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Predit me fut, que deuois fermement Vn iour aymer celui dont la figure Me fut descrite ; & sans autre peinture Le reconnu quand vy premierement : Puis le voyant aymer fatalement, Pitié ie pris de sa triste auenture : Et tellement ie forcay ma nature. Qu'autant que lui aymay ardentement. Qui n'ust pensé qu'en faueur deuoit croître Ce que le Ciel & destins firent naitre ? Mais quand ie voy si nubileus aprets, Vents si cruels & tant horrible orage : Ie croy qu'estoient les infernaus arrets. Qui de si loin m'ourdissoient ce naufrage.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Œuvres de Louise Labé, texte établi par Charles Boy, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, pages 104-105. Note: there is debate over whether the fifth word is "devoit", "devois", or "devait". Each can be found in published editions.
Modernized spelling version:
Predit me fut, que devoit fermement Un jour aymer celui dont la figure Me fut descrite : et sans autre peinture Le reconnu quand vy premierement : Puis le voyant aymer fatalement, Pitié je pris de sa triste aventure : Et tellement je forçay ma nature, Qu'autant que lui aymay ardentement. Qui n'ust pensé qu'en faveur devoit croitre Ce que le Ciel et destins firent naitre ? Mais quand je voy si nubileus aprets, Vents si cruels et tant horrible orage : Je croy qu'estoient les infernaus arrets, Qui de si loin m'ourdissoient ce naufrage.
Text Authorship:
- by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, written 1552, appears in Sonnets, no. 20 [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 Konrad Boehmer (b. 1941), "Triste aventure", published 1980 [ soprano, flute, and percussion ], from Je vis - je meurs, no. 2, Darmstadt, Tonos [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri-Pierre Poupard (1901 - 1989), as Henri Sauguet, "Amour", 1927, published 1928 [ high voice and piano ], from Six sonnets de L. Labé, no. 4, Éd. Rouard Lerolle [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Rainer Maria Rilke) , no title, appears in Die vierundzwanzig Sonette der Louize Labé, Lyoneserin : 1555, no. 20, Leipzig, Insel-Verlag, first published 1917
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2012-02-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 90
A fortune-teller made me the prediction that one day I would love the man whose stance and features she described: from her depiction. I later recognized him at first glance. Then love struck him with fire and turbulence and, pitying his sad infatuation, I went so far against my natural sense that soon I felt an equal burning passion. One might have thought the high celestial fates would bless it since they’d caused it to be born. But seeing sombre clouds move closer and faster with cruel winds and terrifying storm, I fear it was the infernal potentates who in their caverns wove me this disaster.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translator's note: this translation assumes that the 5th word in the source should be DEVOIS (= je devais). So does Rilke's German version.
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, written 1552, appears in Sonnets, no. 20
This text was added to the website: 2022-07-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 106