by
Louise Labé (1526 - 1566)
Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines
Language: French (Français)
Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines,
Tristes soupirs & larmes coutumieres
À engendrer de moy maintes riuieres,
Dont mes deus yeus sont sources & fontaines :
Ô cruautez, ô durtez inhumaines,
Piteus regars des celestes lumieres :
Du cœur transi ô passions premieres,
Estimez vous croitre encore mes peines ?
Qu'encor Amour sur moy son arc essaie,
Que nouueaus feus me gette & nouueaus dars :
Qu'il se despite, & pis qu'il pourra face :
Car ie suis tant nauree en toutes pars,
Que plus en moy une nouuelle plaie,
Pour m'empirer ne pourroit trouuer place.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Œuvres de Louise Labé, texte établi par Charles Boy, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, pages 94-95.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "Ô, longs désirs", op. 206 no. 4 (2006) [ soprano and guitar ], from Le Jardin de Louise Labé, Suite, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michel Decoust (b. 1936), "Ô longs désirs", 2001 [ speaker, mezzo-soprano, accordion, and cello ], from Cinq Sonnets de Louise Labé, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Olivier Penard (b. 1974), "Ô longs désirs, ô espérances vaines", op. 10 no. 4 (2000), published 2001 [ soprano, string quartet, piano ], from Nécessités de la douleur, no. 4, Édition Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aribert Reimann (b. 1936), "Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines", op. 10 no. 2 (1986), published 1988 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Neun Sonette der Louize Labé, no. 2, Mainz, B. Schott's Söhneconfirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Guy Laffaille
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2011-06-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 91
Oh futile hopes, oh long desirings
Language: English after the French (Français)
Oh futile hopes, oh long desirings,
oh sighs of sadness, tears so often shed
that I’ve become a river’s fountainhead
with my two eyes the twin upwelling springs.
Oh cruelties, oh harsh inhuman rigour,
oh pitiless glances from the stars above,
oh breast pierced by the shafts of love,
have you resolved to make my burdens bigger?
Too bad! Let Eros target my poor heart
and keep on shooting dart on fiery dart,
let him be spiteful and renew his curse!
For now I bleed so much in every part
that should he seek again to strike me hard
he’ll find there’s no place left to wound me worse.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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 Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 3
This text was added to the website: 2022-07-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 109