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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Translation © by David Wyatt

Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux
 (Sung text for setting by A. Bertrand)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux
De regarder une chose si belle,
Une vertu digne d'une immortelle,
Et dont Amour est mesmes amoureux.

Depuis ce jour je devins langoureux
Pour aymer trop ceste beauté cruelle:
Cruelle non, mais doucement rebelle
A ce desir qui me rend malheureux:

Malheureux, non, heureux je me confesse,
Tant vaut l'amour d'une telle maitresse,
A qui je suis, et à qui je veux plaire.

Je l'ayme tant qu'aymer je ne me puis,
Je suis tant sien que plus mien je ne suis,
Bien que pour elle Amour me desespere.

Composition:

    Set to music by Anthoine de Bertrand (1540? - 1581?), "Certes mon œil fut trop avantureux", published 1578, first performed 1576 [ vocal quartet a cappella ], from Les Amours de Pierre de Ronsard à 4 parties, Livre 2, no. 15

Text 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 (David Wyatt) , "Indeed my eye was too adventurous", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 97

Indeed my eye was too adventurous
 (Sung text translation for setting by A. Bertrand)
 See original
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Indeed my eye was too adventurous
In looking at a thing so beautiful
Virtue worthy of a goddess
With whom even Love is in love.

Since that day I've become lethargic
From loving too much this cruel beauty --
Cruel, no, but sweetly rejecting
My desire, which makes me unhappy --

Unhappy, no, happy I confess myself
So much the love of such a mistress is worth,
Her I follow and it's her I wish to please.

I love her so much that I can't love myself,
I am so much hers that I'm no longer mine,
Even while love for her makes me desperate.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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 text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2012-05-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 105

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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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