Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Four songs of Ronsard
Song Cycle by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974)
View original-language texts alone: Quatre Chansons de Ronsard
Écoute [un peu]1, Fontaine vive, En qui j'ai rebu si souvent, Couché tout plat dessus ta rive, Oisif à la fraîcheur du vent, Quand l'été ménager moissonne Le sein de Cérès dévêtu, Et l'aire par compas résonne Gémissant sous le blé battu. Ainsi toujours puisses-tu être. [En dévote religion Au boeuf et au bouvier champêtre De ta voisine région!]2 Ainsi toujours la lune claire Voie à minuit au fond d'un val Les Nymphes près de ton repaire A mille bonds mener le bal! [Comme je désire, Fontaine, De plus ne songer boire en toi, L'été, lorsque la fièvre amène La mort dépite contre moi.]3
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "To a fountain", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Milhaud: "moi"
2 Leguerney, Milhaud:
En religion à tous ceux Qui te boiront ou feront paître Tes verts rivages à leurs bœufs3 omitted by Leguerney and Milhaud.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Listen to me, living fountain, from whom I oft have drunk, flat on my belly overlooking your bank, lazy in the cool breeze while the summer harvests Ceres' unclad breast and the air whimpers beneath the beaten wheat. So may you always be in religion to all those who drink from you or who pasture their cattle on your green banks. So may nymphs forever dance around you in the moonlit midnights.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (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), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4
Go to the single-text view
Note: this is a translation of the version used by Leguerney and Milhaud.This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 72
Le jour pousse la nuit,
Et la nuit sombre
Pousse le jour qui luit
D'une obscure ombre.
L'Autonne suit l'Esté,
Et l'aspre rage
Des vents n'a point esté
Apres l'orage.
[Mais la fièvre d'amours
Qui me tourmente,
Demeure en moy tousjours,
Et ne s'alente.]1
Ce n'estoit pas moy, Dieu,
Qu'il falloit poindre,
Ta fleche en autre lieu
Se devoit joindre.
Poursuy les paresseux
Et les amuse,
Mais non pas moy, ne ceux
Qu'aime la Muse.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À Cupidon"
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , "To Cupid", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "To Cupid", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Claycomb) , "To Cupid", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 A five-stanza version of this poem exists with a different third stanza:
Mais le mal nonobstant D'amour dolente Demeure en moi constant Et ne s'alente.The text set by Leguerney and Milhaud has five stanzas but uses the third stanza of the longer poem. Here is the modernized form they set (with spelling changes only):
Le jour pousse la nuit Et la nuit sombre Pousse le jour qui luit D'une obscure ombre. L'Automne suit l'Été Et l'âpre rage Des vents n'a point été Après l'orage. Mais la fièvre d'amours Qui me tourmente Demeure en moi toujours Et ne s'alente. Ce n'était pas moi, Dieu, Qu'il fallait poindre; Ta flèche en d'autre lieu Se devait joindre. Poursuis les paresseux Et les amuse, Mais non pas moi, ni ceux Qu'aime la Muse...
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Day pushes night, and dark night pushes gleaming day with dark shades. Autumn follows Summer and the winds no longer rage after the storm. But the love fever that torments me burns in me forever unabated. I'm not the one you should have aimed at, god. Your arrow should have had another target. Go after the lazy and amuse them, not me or those who love the Muse.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Faith J. Cormier, (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), "À Cupidon"
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website:
Line count: 20
Word count: 68
Tay toy, babillarde Arondelle, Ou bien, je plumeray ton aile Si je t'empongne, ou d'un couteau Je te couperay la languette, Qui matin sans repos caquette Et m'estourdit tout le cerveau. Je te preste ma cheminée, Pour chanter toute la journée, De soir, de nuict, quand tu voudras. Mais au matin ne me reveille, Et ne m'oste quand je sommeille Ma Cassandre d'entre mes bras.
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Quiet, chattering swallow", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Quiet, chattering swallow, or if I get my hands on you I'll tear the feathers from your wing or cut out your tongue. In the morning, your endless cackling makes my head turn. You can sing all day, all evening, all night in my chimney if you want, but in the morning don't wake me up when I'm dozing with my Cassandra in my arms.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (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 single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 11
Word count: 66
Dieu vous gard', messagers fidèles Du Printemps, gentes hirondelles, Huppes, coucous, rossignolets, Tourtres, et vous oiseaux sauvages Qui de cent sortes de ramages Animez les bois verdelets. Dieu vous gard', belles pâquerettes, Belles roses, belles fleurettes, [De Mars, et vous boutons]1 connus Du sang d'Ajax et de Narcisse, Et vous thym, anis et mélisse, Vous soyez les bien revenus. Dieu vous gard', troupe diaprée [De]2 papillons, qui par la prée Les douces herbes suçotez; Et vous, nouvel essaim d'abeilles, Qui les fleurs jaunes et vermeilles [Indifferemment]3 baisotez. Cent mille fois je resalue Votre belle et douce venue. Ô que j'aime cette saison Et ce doux caquet des rivages, Au prix des vents et des orages Qui m'enfermaient en la maison!
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , no title, copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Milhaud: "Et vous boutons jadis"
2 Milhaud: "Des"
3 Milhaud: "De votre bouche"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
God be with you, faithful messengers of Spring, swallows, hoopoes, cuckoos, little nightingales, turtledoves and wild birds who make the greenwood lively with a hundred sorts of warbles. God be with you, lovely daisies, beautiful roses, pretty little flowers, and you buds, once known as the blood of Ajax and Narcissus. And you thyme, anise, wild cherry. Welcome back. God be with you, multi-coloured troop of butterflies sucking the sweet grasses of the field, and you, new swarm of bees kissing the yellow and red flowers. A hundred thousand times I salute your sweet return. Oh, how I love this season and the sweet cackling on the banks after the winds and storms that have kept me shut in the house!
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (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 single-text view
Note: this is a translation of Milhaud's version.This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 121