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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Translation © by Faith J. Cormier
Écoute un peu, Fontaine vive
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Écoute [un peu]1, Fontaine vive, En qui j'ai rebu si souvent, Couché tout plat dessus ta rive, Oisif à la fraîcheur du vent, Quand l'été ménager moissonne Le sein de Cérès dévêtu, Et l'aire par compas résonne Gémissant sous le blé battu. Ainsi toujours puisses-tu être. [En dévote religion Au boeuf et au bouvier champêtre De ta voisine région!]2 Ainsi toujours la lune claire Voie à minuit au fond d'un val Les Nymphes près de ton repaire A mille bonds mener le bal! [Comme je désire, Fontaine, De plus ne songer boire en toi, L'été, lorsque la fièvre amène La mort dépite contre moi.]3
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Milhaud: "moi"
2 Leguerney, Milhaud:
En religion à tous ceux Qui te boiront ou feront paître Tes verts rivages à leurs bœufs3 omitted by Leguerney and Milhaud.
Authorship
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "À la Fontaine Bellerie", 1945, published 1986, first performed 1950 [soprano and piano], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. V, no. 1, Paris, Max Eschig [text verified 1 time]
- by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "À une fontaine", 1940, from Quatre Chansons de Ronsard, no. 1. [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , title 1: "To a fountain", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
To a fountain
Language: English after the French (Français)
Listen to me, living fountain, from whom I oft have drunk, flat on my belly overlooking your bank, lazy in the cool breeze while the summer harvests Ceres' unclad breast and the air whimpers beneath the beaten wheat. So may you always be in religion to all those who drink from you or who pasture their cattle on your green banks. So may nymphs forever dance around you in the moonlit midnights.
Note: this is a translation of the version used by Leguerney and Milhaud.
Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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- a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4