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by Thibaut Ier de Navarre (1201 - 1253)
Translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803)

Las ! si j'avois pouvoir d'oublier
Language: French (Français) 
Las ! si j'avois pouvoir d'oublier
Sa beauté, sa beauté, son bien dire,
Et son très-doux, très-doux regarder,
  Finirois mon martyre :
Mais las ! mon cœur je n'en puis ôter,
  Et grand affolage
  M'est d'espérer :
  Mais tel fervage
  Donne courage
  A tout endurer.
Et puis, comment, comment oublier
Sa beauté, sa beauté, son bien dire,
Et son très-doux, très-doux regarder ?
  Mieux aime mon martyre.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Annales poétiques, ou Almanach des Muses, depuis l'origine de la Poésie Françoise, tome premier, Paris, Delalain, 1778, page 9. A footnote in this edition is attached to the end of line 6 as follows: Grand affolage, grande folie.


Text Authorship:

  • by Thibaut Ier de Navarre (1201 - 1253), "Chanson" [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 (Charles Gustave) Alban Cocural Dorcy (1856 - 1931), "Chanson de Thibault Comte de Champagne et Roi de Navarre", published 1890 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 13, Éd. V. Durdilly & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Édouard Moullé (1845 - 1923), "Chanson de Thibault", published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons tendres du XIIème au XVIIIème siècle, remises au jour et harmonisées par E. Moullé, no. 24, Paris, Éd. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by Napoléon-Henri Reber.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in French (Français), adapted by François-Auguste Paradis de Moncrif (1687 - 1770) [an adaptation] ; composed by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , "Ein Sonnet", subtitle: "Aus dem 13ten Jahrhundert" ; composed by Johannes Brahms, Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen, Albert Fuchs, Moritz Hauptmann, Fanny Hensel, Mathilde von Kralik, Oskar Raif, Benedikt Randhartinger, Karl Friedrich Zelter.
    • Go to the text.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 62

Ach, könnt' ich, könnte vergessen Sie!
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE ITA SPA
Ach, [könnt' ich, könnte]1 vergessen Sie!
  Ihr [schönes, liebes, liebliches]2 Wesen,
Den Blick, die freundliche Lippe, die!
  Vielleicht ich möchte genesen!
Doch ach! mein Herz, mein Herz kann es nie!
Und doch ist's Wahnsinn, zu hoffen Sie!
    [Und um sie schweben, 
    Gibt Muth und Leben,
    Zu weichen nie! --]3
Und [denn]4, wie kann ich vergessen Sie,
  Ihr [schönes, liebes, liebliches]2 Wesen,
Den Blick, die freundliche Lippe, die!
  Viel lieber nimmer genesen!

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   J. D'Alquen •   F. Hensel •   O. Raif 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Johann Gottfried v. Herders Sämmtliche Werke, Zur schönen Literatur und Kunst, Dritter Band, Stuttgart und Tübingen, J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1852, pages 193-194.

1 D'Alquen: "könnt' ich, könnt' ich"; Raif: "könnte, könnt' ich"
2 Raif: "schönes, liebliches"
3 omitted by Raif
4 D'Alquen: "doch"; Hensel, Raif: "dann"

Text Authorship:

  • by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803), "Ein Sonnet", subtitle: "Aus dem 13ten Jahrhundert" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Thibaut Ier de Navarre (1201 - 1253), "Chanson"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "Ein Sonett", op. 14 (Acht Lieder und Romanzen) no. 4 (1858), published 1861 [ voice and piano ], Winterthur, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen (1795 - 1863), "Minnelied", op. posth. 3 (8 Lieder) no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by (Leonard Johann Heinrich) Albert Fuchs (1858 - 1910), "Altfranzösisches Sonett", op. 31 (Fünfzehn Lieder für 1 mittlere Singstimme mit Pianoforte), Heft 2 no. 7, published 1899 [ medium voice and piano ], Leipzig, Rieter-Biedermann [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Moritz Hauptmann (1792 - 1868), "Sonnet aus dem 13. Jahrhundert", op. 19 (Zwölf Gesänge) no. 10, published 1848 [ voice and piano ], Offenbach, André [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Sonnet aus dem 13. Jhdt.", H-U 152 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Mathilde von Kralik (1857 - 1944), "Sonett", published 1899 [ voice and piano ], from Jugend-Lieder, no. 6, Wien : Albert J. Gutmann [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Oskar Raif (1847 - 1899), "Altfranzösisches Sonnet", op. 8 (Zwei Lieder) no. 1, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Barth [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Nimmer genesen" [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758 - 1832), "Sonett aus dem 13. Jahrhundert", 1802 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "Een sonnet", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Oh, could I only forget her", copyright ©
  • ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "A sonnet"
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Sonnet", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "Un sonetto", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfonso Sebastián) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-09
Line count: 13
Word count: 77

Gentle Reminder

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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