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Pour être un digne et bon Crétien, il faut à Christ être semblable, il faut renoncer à tout bien, à tout honneur qui est damnable; à la dame belle et jolie, à plaisir qui la chair émeut, laisser, laisser honneurs, biens et l'amie. Ne fait pas ce tout là qui veut. Ses biens aux pauvres faut donner d'un coeur joyeux et volontaire; faut les injures pardonner et à ses ennemis bien faire; s'éjouir en mélancolie et tourment dont la chair s'émeut, aimer la mort, la mort comme la vie! Ne fait pas ce tout là qui veut.
Authorship:
- by Marguerite de Valois (Marguerite d'Angoulême), Queen of Navarre (1492 - 1549), first published 1540 [author's text not yet checked 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 Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864), "Ballade" [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , title 1: "Ballad", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 97
To be a worthy and good Christian, you have to be like Christ, renouncing all damnable goods and honours, beautiful women, the pleasures of the flesh, and leaving honours, goods and lovers. Not all who want to will succeed. You must freely give all that you have to the poor, with happy heart; you must pardon insults and do good to your enemies, rejoice in melancholy and in the torments of the flesh, love death as you love life! Not all who want to will succeed.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 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. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Marguerite de Valois (Marguerite d'Angoulême), Queen of Navarre (1492 - 1549), first published 1540
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 86