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Trois Chansons de William Shakespeare

Song Cycle by Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)

View original-language texts alone: Three Songs from William Shakespeare

1.
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly,
Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tunèd sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing.
  Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
  Sings this to thee: "Thou single wilt prove none."

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 8

See other settings of this text.

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
1.
[Translation not yet available]
2.
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, - ding-dong bell.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tempest, Act I, Scene 2

See other settings of this text.

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
2.
Language: French (Français) 
Par cinq brasses, ton père gît,
De ses os le corail est fait ;
Ce sont les perles qui étaient ses yeux :
Rien de lui qui ne soit périssable,
Mais subit le flot marin qui le transforme
En quelque chose de riche et étrange.
Les nymphes marines sonnent son glas chaque heure :
Ding, dong !
Écoutez ! maintenant je les entends, ding, dong, dong !

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2009 by Guy Laffaille, (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 English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tempest, Act I, Scene 2
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2009-12-05
Line count: 9
Word count: 61

Translation © by Guy Laffaille
3. Spring
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
When daisies pied and violets blue
 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,
And lady-smocks all silver white,
  Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
  And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
  And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2

See other settings of this text.

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
3.
Language: French (Français) 
Quand les pâquerettes diaprées et les violettes bleues
Et les cressons argentés
Et les primevères de couleur jaune
Émaillent de leurs grâces les prés,
Le coucou alors, d’arbre en arbre,
Se moque des maris, car il chante :
Coucou !
CoucouI Coucou !… Ô mot sinistre,
Malsonnant à une oreille mariée !

Quand les bergers embouchent les chalumeaux d’avoine
Et que les gaies alouettes servent d’horloges aux laboureurs,
Quand s’accouplent les tourterelles, les grolles et les corneilles
Et que les filles blanchissent leurs jupes au soleil
Le coucou alors, d’arbre en arbre,
Se moque des maris, car il chante :
Coucou !
Coucou ! Coucou !…  Ô mot sinistre,
Malsonnant à une oreille mariée !

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Guy Laffaille, (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 English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2015-07-27
Line count: 18
Word count: 108

Translation © by Guy Laffaille
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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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