Two settings of Apollinaire's poem in French and English for bass and piano; the two musical settings are a sort of translation of each other, too. The translation is mine.

It's interesting how the first seems to evoke Paris and the second doesn't. Perhaps it evokes London? Is London the translation of Paris? In which case, is there a translation for the bridge itself? E

It's more of a rotation: I think of the French version as going along the river, and the English as the protagonist walking feverishly up and down the bridge. It's an Englishman in Paris, if anything. R

Last updated 2019/10/29