Four Sonnets to Cassandra

Song Cycle by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974)

View original-language texts alone: Quatre sonnets à Cassandre

1.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Qui voudra voir comme un dieu me surmonte,
Comme il m'assaut, comme il se fait vainqueur,
Comme il renflamme et renglace mon coeur,
Comme il se fait un honneur de ma honte,

Qui voudra voir une jeunesse prompte
A suivre en vain l'objet de son malheur,
Me vienne lire: il verra ma douleur
Dont ma déesse et mon dieu ne font compte.

Il connaîtra qu'amour est sans raison,
Un doux abus, une belle prison,
Un vain espoir qui de vent nous vient paître.

Et connaîtra que l'homme se décoit
Quand plein d'erreur un aveugle il reçoit
Pour sa conduite, un enfant pour son maître.

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
1. Whoever wishes to see a god overcoming me
Language: English 
 Whoever wishes to see a god overcoming me,
 assailing me, vanquishing me,
 making my heart flame and freeze repeatedly,
 and taking pride in my shame...
 
 whoever wishes to see a young man quick to pursue
 in vain the object of his misery...
 should read my words: he will see my suffering,
 which is ignored by my goddess Cassandre, and by my god.
 
 He will learn that love is irrational,
 a sweet illusion, a beautiful prison,
 a futile hope which feeds on empty air.
 
 He will learn that one lets oneself down
 when one mistakenly accepts
 Eros the blind as guide, Eros the child as master.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 105

Translation © by Peter Low
2.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Nature ornant la dame qui devoyt
De sa douceur forcer les plus rebelles,
Luy fit present des beautez les plus belles,
Que des mille ans en espargne elle avoyt

Tout ce qu'Amour avarement couvoyt,
De beau, de chaste, et d'honneur soubz ses ailles,
Emmiella les graces immortelles
De son bel oeil qui les dieux emouvoyt.

Du ciel à peine elle estoyt descendue,
Quand je la vi, quand mon ame ésperdue
En devint folle: et d'un si poignant trait,

Le fier destin l'engrava dans mon ame,
Que vif ne mort, jamais d'une aultre dame
Empraint au cuoeur je n'auray le portraict.

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
2. Nature, when adorning that lady
Language: English 
 Nature, when adorning that lady whose gentleness
 would compel the most recalcitrant,
 bestowed on her all the most beautiful features
 that she had been saving up for centuries.
 
 Everything fair and chaste and honourable
 that Eros was avariciously guarding under his wings
 went to sweeten the immortal graces
 of her beautiful eyes which excited the gods themselves.
 
 Scarcely had she descended from heaven
 than I saw her, and, distracted,
 became crazy about her... Proud Fate engraved her
 
 in my heart with such a sharp arrow
 that, whether alive or dead, I will never have the portrait
 of any other lady imprinted on my heart.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 104

Translation © by Peter Low
3.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
"Avant le temps tes tempes fleuriront, 
De peu de jours ta fin sera bornée, 
Avant ton soir se clora ta journée, 
Trahis d'espoir tes pensers périront ; 

Sans me fléchir tes écrits flétriront, 
Dans ton désastre ira ma destinée, 
Ta mort sera pour m'amour terminée, 
De tes soupirs tes neveux se riront. 

Tu seras fait d'un vulgaire la fable, 
Tu bâtiras sur l'incertain du sable 
Et vainement tu peindras dans les cieux." 

Ainsi disait la nymphe qui m'affole, 
Lorsque le ciel, témoin de sa parole, 
D'un dextre éclair fut présage à mes yeux.

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
3. Your hair will prematurely blossom white
Language: English 
 "Your hair will prematurely blossom white;
 your lifespan will be short;
 your day will close before your evening;
 your thoughts will perish with their hope betrayed;
 
 your writings will wither without swaying me;
 my destiny will cause your ruin;
 your death will befall for love of me;
 your descendants will ridicule your sighs;
 
 you will become a laughing-stock;
 you will build on unstable sand
 and paint futilely on the skies!"
 
 The nymph who drives me crazy was making these prophecies, when heaven as
 witness to her words
 flashed before my eyes the sinister omen of a lightning-bolt.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 97

Translation © by Peter Low
4.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Quand je te vois, seule, assise, à part toi,
Toute amusée avecque ta pensée,
La tête un peu encontre bas baissée,
Te retirant du vulgaire et de moi,

Je veux souvent, pour rompre ton émoi,
Te saluer, mais ma voix offensée
De trop de peur se retient amassée
Dedans ma bouche et me laisse tout coi.

Souffrir ne puis les rayons de ta vue,
Craintive au corps mon âme tremble émue,
Langue ni voix ne font leur action.

Seuls mes soupirs, seul mon triste visage
Parlent pour moi, et telle passion
De mon amour donne assez témoignage.

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
4. When I see you sitting all by yourself
Language: English 
When I see you sitting all by yourself,
engrossed in your thoughts,
with your head somewhat lowered,
withdrawn from the crowd and from me,

then I often want to greet you, to interrupt
your moodiness; but my weakened voice,
excessively fearful, stays back
in my mouth, leaving me mute.

I cannot stand the brilliance of your appearance;
my soul quivers timorously in my body;
my tongue and vocal cords do not function.

Only my sighs, only my sad face
speak for me; and such passion
gives sufficient evidence of my love.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 91

Translation © by Peter Low