Indeed my eye was too adventurous | Indeed my eye was too adventurous

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux
De regarder une chose si belle,
Une vertu digne d'une immortelle,
Et dont Amour est mesmes amoureux.

Depuis ce jour je devins langoureux
Pour aymer trop ceste beauté cruelle:
Cruelle non, mais doucement rebelle
A ce desir qui me rend malheureux:

Malheureux, non, heureux je me confesse,
Tant vaut l'amour d'une telle maitresse,
Pour qui je vy, et à qui je veux plaire.

Je l'ayme tant qu'aymer je ne me puis,
Je suis tant sien que plus mien je ne suis,
Bien que pour elle Amour me desespere.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Bertrand • C. Goudimel

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Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [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 Anthoine de Bertrand (1540? - 1581?), "Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux", published 1578, first performed 1576 [ vocal quartet a cappella ], from Les Amours de Pierre de Ronsard à 4 parties, Livre 2, no. 15 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Claude Goudimel (c1514 - 1572), "Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux" [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Indeed my eye was too adventurous", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 97

Indeed my eye was too adventurous

Language: English after the French (Français)

Indeed my eye was too adventurous
In looking at a thing so beautiful
Virtue worthy of a goddess
With whom even Love is in love.

Since that day I've become lethargic
From loving too much this cruel beauty --
Cruel, no, but sweetly rejecting
My desire, which makes me unhappy --

Unhappy, no, happy I confess myself
So much the love of such a mistress is worth,
For her I live and it's her I wish to please.

I love her so much that I can't love myself,
I am so much hers that I'm no longer mine,
Even while love for her makes me desperate.

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Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-05-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 105