by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929)
Translation Singable translation by Thomas Gwynn Jones (1871 - 1949)
O Déesse, ô nuit, pardonne aux méchants
Language: French (Français) after the English
Our translations: GER
O Déesse, ô nuit, pardonne aux méchants Qui troublés par la calomnie Ont tué ta vierge bénie. Ils font retentir leurs funèbres chants Autour de la tombe honorée Où dort sa dépouille sacrée. Mêle à nos sanglots un gémissement Ah ! Déplore, ô nuit, sa fin cruelle ; Aide nous à pleurer sur elle Amèrement Laissez vos morts surgir, vous, sépulcres avides Demeurez vides pour un moment Tandis que ce lugubre thrène Sous les arceaux monte Plaintivement, Ah!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929), no title, appears in Chansons de Shakespeare, Éd. Léon Chailley, first published 1896 [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Chant funèbre", op. 28 no. 4 (1897), published 1914 [four-part women's chorus and piano], Paris, Édition Mutuelle [ sung text checked 1 time]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English [singable] (Thomas Gwynn Jones) , "Chant funèbre", first published 1914
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Grabgesang", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2015-07-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 76
Chant funèbre
Language: English after the French (Français)
Goddess of night, thou pardon them their wrong, Who, driven by false calumny Have slain the virgin bles’t of thee; Hear now resounding their lamenting song Around the tomb, with honour dres’t, Where sleepeth she in sacred rest. Mix with our sighing thy own dismal cry. Deplore, o night, her end forlorn, And aid thou us for her to mourn Most bitterly! Let all our dead arise, ye graves voracious, And empty thus a moment be, Whilst this our sorrow fullest dirge Beneath the vault arise and surge Most plaintively! Ah!
From the Chausson score.
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Thomas Gwynn Jones (1871 - 1949), "Chant funèbre", first published 1914 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929), no title, appears in Chansons de Shakespeare, Éd. Léon Chailley, first published 1896 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2015-07-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 91