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

C’est grand cas que d’aimer : si je suis...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
C’est grand cas que d’aimer : si je suis une année
Avecque ma maistresse à deviser tousjours,
Et à luy raconter quelles sont mes amours,
L’an me semble plus court qu’une courte journée.
 
Si quelqu‘un parle à moi, j’en ay l’ame gennée,
Ou je ne lui dis mot, ou mes propos sont lours :
Au milieu du devis s’esgarent mes discours,
Et tout ainsi que moy ma langue est estonnee.
 
Mais quand je suis auprès de celle qui me tient
Le coeur dedans les yeux, sans me forcer me vient
Un propos dessus l’autre, et jamais je ne cesse
 
De baiser, de taster, de rire et de parler :
Car pour estre cent ans aupres de ma maistresse,
Cent ans me sont trop courts, et ne m’en puis aller.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [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 Boni (c1530 - c1594), "C'est grand cas que d'aimer", published 1608 [vocal quartet], from the collection Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 35, Paris, Pierre Ballard [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

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

  • ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "It's a great thing to love", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 126

It's a great thing to love
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
It's a great thing to love: if I spent a whole year
With my mistress, constantly conversing
And telling her about my love,
The year would seem to me shorter than a short day.
 
If someone speaks to me, my soul is troubled:
Either I say nothing to him, or my conversation gets heavy;
In the middle of my thought my speech goes astray
And my tongue, as well as I, is stunned.
 
But when I am beside her who keeps me
With my heart in my eyes, without any effort there comes to me
One idea upon another, and I never stop
 
Kissing, touching, laughing, talking;
For to be beside my mistress for a hundred years,
A hundred years would be too short, and I cannot leave.

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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 128

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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