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En amer a douce vie Et jolie, Qui bien la scet maintenir, Car tant plaist la maladie, Quant norrie Est en amoureus desir, Que l'amant fait esbaudir Et querir Comment elle monteplie. C'est dous maus a soustenir, Qu'esjoïr Fait cuer d'ami et d'amie; Qu'Amours par sa signourie Humelie L'amoureus cuer a souffrir, Et par sa noble maistrie Le maistrie, Si qu'il ne puet riens sentir, Que tout au goust de joïr Par plaisir Ne prengne, je n'en doubt mie. Einsi säous de merir, Fait cuer d'ami et d'amie. Si doit bien estre cherie Et servie, Quant elle puet assevir Chascun qui li rueve et prie De s'aïe, Sans son tresor amenrir. De la mort puet garentir Et garir Cuer de santé mendie; De souffissance enrichir Et franchir Fait cuer d'ami et d'amie.
Text Authorship:
- by Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377) [author's text checked 2 times 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 Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377), "En amer a douce vie" [vocal quartet with alternate triplum and counter-tenor], from the collection Le Remède de Fortune, no. 4, three-voice ballade [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , title unknown, copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 35
Word count: 132
In loving, he has a sweet life
And pleasant
Who knows well how to maintain it,
For the illness pleases so much
When it is
Fed on love’s desire
That it makes the lover rejoice
And seek
How it can multiply.
It is a sweet evil to bear,
Which makes happy
The heart of lover and beloved;
For Love through his lordship
Humbles
The lover’s heart to suffer
And through his noble mastery
Masters it,
So that it can feel nothing
Which it does not find
Entirely to its taste to enjoy
In pleasure, I have no doubt.
So [love] makes drunk with winning it
The heart of lover and beloved.
So [love] must be dearly-cherished
And served,
Since she can satisfy
Anyone who begs and prays her
To help him,
Without using up her treasure.
She can protect from death
And cure
The heart deprived of health;
She makes rich with plenty
And free
The heart of lover and beloved.
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Text Authorship:
- Translation from Old French (Ancien français) to English copyright © 2015 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.
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Based on:
- a text in Old French (Ancien français) by Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377)
This text was added to the website: 2015-01-13
Line count: 35
Word count: 161