by
Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Hé que voulez‑vous dire ? estes‑vous si...
Language: French (Français)
Hé que voulez-vous dire ? estes-vous si cruelle
De ne vouloir aimer ? voyez les passereaux
Qui [demeurent]1 l’amour, voyez les colombeaux,
Regardes le Ramier, voyez la tourterelle :
Voyez deça, delà, d’une frétillante aesle,
Volleter [par les bois]2 les amoureux oyseaux,
Voyez la jeune vigne embrasser les ormeaux,
Et toute chose rire en la saison [vermeille]3:
Icy le bergerette, en tournant son fuseau,
Desgoise ses amours, et là le patoureau
Respond à sa chanson, icy toute chose aime :
Toute parle de l’amour, tout s’en veut enflammer :
Seulement vostre coeur, froid d’une glace extreme,
Demeure opiniastre et ne veut point aimer.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• G. Boni • N. Millot N. Millot sets stanzas 1-2
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Boni, Millot: "demenent"
2 omitted by Boni
3 Boni: "nouvelle"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Hé que voulez-vous dire, estes vous si cruelle", published 1607 [ vocal quartet ], from Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, II, no. 21, Paris, Pierre Ballard [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Nicolas Millot (d. c1590), "Hé que voulez-vous dire, estes vous si cruelle", stanzas 1-2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: David Wyatt
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-02
Line count: 14
Word count: 101
Eh? What are you trying to say? Are you...
Language: English after the French (Français)
Eh? What are you trying to say? Are you so cruel
As not to wish to love? See the sparrows
Which [live in]1 love, see the doves,
See the pigeon, see the turtle-dove:
See here and there on fluttering wing
The amorous birds flitting [through the woods]2,
See the young vine embrace the elms,
And everything laughing in this [rosy]3 season.
Here the shepherdess turning her spindle
Rambles of her love, and there the shepherd
Replies to her song, here everything is in love:
Everything speaks of love, everything wishes to burn with it;
Your heart alone, cold with an extreme iciness,
Remains stubborn and does not wish to love at all.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Boni, Millot: "are agitated by"
2 omitted by Boni.
3 Boni: "new"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 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:
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-02
Line count: 14
Word count: 116
