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possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation © by Guy Laffaille

On a day ‑‑ alack the day!
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE
On a day -- alack the day! --
Love, whose month is ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air:
Through the velvet leaves the wind,
All unseen, can passage find;
That the lover, sick to death,
Wish himself the heaven's breath.
Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow;
Air, would I might triumph so!
But, alack, my hand is sworn
Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn;
Vow, alack, for youth unmeet,
Youth so apt to pluck a sweet!
Do not call it sin in me,
That I am forsworn for thee;
Thou for whom Jove would swear
Juno but an Ethiope were;
And deny himself for Jove,
Turning mortal for thy love.
[This will I send, and something else more plain,
That shall express my true love's fasting pain.
O, would the king, Biron, and Longaville,
Were lovers too! Ill, to example ill,
Would from my forehead wipe a perjured note;
For none offend where all alike do dote.]1

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Parry 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Parry.

Text Authorship:

  • possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, Scene 3 [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 Thomas Chilcot , "The words by Shakespeare in Love's labour lost", published [1743] [ high voice, 2 violins, viola, and basso continuo ], from Twelve English Songs, London : Johnson ; [sic] on the title [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Love's perjuries", op. 21 no. 1 (1873), published [1874] [ voice and piano ], from A Garland of Shakesperian and Other Old-Fashioned Songs, no. 1, London : Cock [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by William Jackson, Daniel Ruyneman.

  • Go to the text. [ view differences ] FRE

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-27
Line count: 26
Word count: 164

Un jour (hélas ! jour funeste !)
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Un jour (hélas ! jour funeste !)
L’Amour, dont le mois est un mai éternel,
Découvrit une fleur ravissante
Se jouant dans l’air voluptueux :
Entre ses pétales veloutées la brise,
Invisible, se frayait un passage ;
Si bien que l’amoureux, malade à mourir,
Se prit à envier cette haleine du ciel.
Brise, dit-il, tu peux t’épancher à plein souffle  ;
Brise, que ne puis-je triompher comme toi !
Mais, hélas ! ma main a juré, 6 rose,
De ne jamais te cueillir à ton épine !
Serment, hélas ! bien dur pour la jeunesse
Qui aime tant à cueillir les senteurs !
Ne m’accuse pas d’un péché
Si je me parjure pour toi,
Toi près de qui Jupiter jurerait
Que Junon n’est qu’une Éthiopienne,
Toi pour qui, voulant se faire mortel,
Il nierait être Jupiter !
Je vais envoyer ceci, avec quelque chose de plus cîair,
pour exprimer la douleur sincère de mon famélique amour !
Oh ! plût au ciel que le roi, Biron et Longueville
fussent amoureux aussi ! Leur faute, servant d’exemple à ma faute,
effacerait de mon front le stigmate du parjure.
Nul, en effet, n’a tort quand tous radotent.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Guy Laffaille, (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 English possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-07-27
Line count: 26
Word count: 182

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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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