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Mort, j'appelle de ta rigueur, Qui m'as ma maîtresse ravie, Et n'es pas encore assouvie Si tu ne me tiens en langueur : [Onc]1 puis n'eus force [ni]2 vigueur ; Mais que te [nuisoit]3-elle en vie, Mort ? Deux étions et n'avions qu'un coeur ; S'il est mort, force est que dévie, Voire, ou que je vive sans vie Comme les images, par coeur, Mort !
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes1 Martin: "Or"
2 Martin: "ne"
3 Martin: "nuisait"
Text Authorship:
- by François Villon (1431 - 1463), "Rondeau (Mort, j'appelle de ta rigueur)", appears in Le Grand Testament [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 Wim Franken (b. 1922), "Rondeau à la mort", 1969, published 1969 [ tenor and piano ], from Cinq poèmes de François Villon, no. 4, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cécile Gauthiez (1873 - 1946), "Rondel", published 1914 [ voice and piano ], Paris : Edition Mutuelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Jolivet (1905 - 1974), "Lay ou plutôt rondeau", 1929, published 1991 [ medium voice and orchestra or piano ], from Mélodies sur des poésies anciennes, no. 1, from Quatre mélodies sur des poésies anciennes, no. 2, Éd. Gérard Billaudot [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974), no title, 1970/71 [ tenor, baritone, bass, 2 electric guitars, and bass guitar ], from Poèmes de la Mort et Ballade des Pendus, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "Death, I appeal to your harshness", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-13
Line count: 12
Word count: 65
O Death, I appeal against your harshness, You who have stolen my mistress away, And are still not appeased Unless you keep me in despondency: Since then I've had neither strength nor vigor; But how did she wrong you in life, O Death? We were two but had only one heart; If it is dead, then I must also die, In truth, or else live on without life By heart, like an effigy, O Death!
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Lay ou plutôt rondeau" = "Lay, or rather rondeau"
"Rondeau à la mort" = "Rondeau, to Death"
"Rondeau (Mort, j'appelle de ta rigueur)" = "Rondeau (Death, I appeal against your harshness)"
"Rondel" = "Rondel"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Middle French 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 Middle French by François Villon (1431 - 1463), "Rondeau (Mort, j'appelle de ta rigueur)", appears in Le Grand Testament
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 75