Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).
Reminder: You must always use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Écoute [un peu]1, Fontaine vive, En qui j'ai rebu si souvent, Couché tout plat dessus ta rive, Oisif à la fraîcheur du vent, Quand l'été ménager moissonne Le sein de Cérès dévêtu, Et l'aire par compas résonne Gémissant sous le blé battu. Ainsi toujours puisses-tu être. [En dévote religion Au boeuf et au bouvier champêtre De ta voisine région!]2 Ainsi toujours la lune claire Voie à minuit au fond d'un val Les Nymphes près de ton repaire A mille bonds mener le bal! [Comme je désire, Fontaine, De plus ne songer boire en toi, L'été, lorsque la fièvre amène La mort dépite contre moi.]3
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes1 Milhaud: "moi"
2 Leguerney, Milhaud:
En religion à tous ceux Qui te boiront ou feront paître Tes verts rivages à leurs bœufs3 omitted by Leguerney and Milhaud.
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4 [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 Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "À la Fontaine Bellerie", 1945, published 1986, first performed 1950 [ soprano and piano ], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. V, no. 1, Paris, Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "À une fontaine", op. 223 no. 1 (1940) [ voice and piano ], from Quatre Chansons de Ronsard, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henry Sauveplane (1892 - 1942), "À la Fontaine Bellerie", 1936, published 1936 [ vocal trio for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto with piano ], from 3 trios pour voix de femmes, no. 3, Éd. Sociales Internationales [sung text not yet checked]
- by José Gonzalo Zulaika Arregui (1886 - 1956), "Ecoute moy, fontaine vive", 1937, published 1971 [ high voice and piano ], Archivo [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "To a fountain", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 108
Listen to me, living fountain, from whom I oft have drunk, flat on my belly overlooking your bank, lazy in the cool breeze while the summer harvests Ceres' unclad breast and the air whimpers beneath the beaten wheat. So may you always be in religion to all those who drink from you or who pasture their cattle on your green banks. So may nymphs forever dance around you in the moonlit midnights.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by Faith J. Cormier, (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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À la même fontaine", appears in Les odes de jeunesse, no. 4
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 72