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Pauvre [Jeannette]1,
Qui chantoit si bien,
Lalirette,
Triste et seulette,
Tu ne dis plus rien.
Las ! je soupire
Loin de mon ami :
Ne sais rien dire
A d'autres qu'à lui.
[Jeune et]2 fillette,
Ne peux-tu changer ?
Lalirette :
Crois-moi, [Jeannette]1,
Choisis un berger.
Le roi lui-même
Auroit un refus ;
Du jour qu'on aime
On ne choisit plus.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, Nouvelles nouvelles, Paris: L'Imprimerie de Didot l'aîné, 1792, Page 89.
1 Mendelssohn: "Jeanette"2 Mendelssohn: "Jeune"
Text Authorship:
- by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755 - 1794), no title, appears in Claudine [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 Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Romance de Claudine", H-U 5 (1820) [ medium voice and piano ], from Frühe Französische Lieder, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles-Léon Hess (1844 - 1926), "Vieille chanson", published 1878-1879 [ voice and piano ], in Journal du Musique [sung text not yet checked]
- by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847), "Pauvre Jeanette", c1820 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2010-07-27
Line count: 18
Word count: 62
"Poor [Jeannette]1,
Who sang so well,
Tralala,
Sad and all alone,
You no longer say anything."
"Alas! I am pining
Far from my sweetheart:
I can't say anything
To anyone but him."
"Young little girl,
Can't you make a change?
Tralala:
Believe me, [Jeannette]1,
Choose a shepherd."
"The king himself
I would turn away;
Once one falls in love
One no longer has a choice."
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesTranslations of titles:
"Pauvre Jeanette" = "Poor Jeanette"
"Romance de Claudine" = "Claudine's Romance "
"Vieille chanson" = "Old Song "
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (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 French (Français) by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755 - 1794), no title, appears in Claudine
This text was added to the website: 2025-11-24
Line count: 18
Word count: 70