My end is my beginning | My end is my beginning

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by Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Ma fin est mon commencement

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Ma fin est mon commencement
Et mon commencement ma fin

Est teneüre vraiement
  Ma fin est mon commencement.

Mes tiers chans trois fois seulement
Se retrograde et einsi fin.
  Ma fin est mon commencement
  Et mon commencement ma fin.

Text Authorship:

by Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377) [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 Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377), "Ma fin est mon commencement" [vocal trio], rondeau [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "My end is my beginning", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 39

My end is my beginning

Language: English after the French (Français)

My end is my beginning
And my beginning my end.

This is truly my tenor [or, that which I hold on to],
My end is my beginning.

My third line three times only
Goes back on itself and so finishes.
    My end is my beginning
    And my beginning my end.

Translator's note: These are effectively the instructions for singing the piece, as well as its text: one part which is read from start to finish by singer 1, and from finish to start by singer 2; and a tenor/third part which goes from start to finish and then back to start.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 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 Guillaume de Machaut (c1300 - 1377)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-01-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 50