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Las ! si j'avois pouvoir d'oublier Sa beauté, sa beauté, son bien dire, Et son très-doux, très-doux regarder, Finirois mon martyre : Mais las ! mon cœur je n'en puis ôter, Et grand affolage [M'est]1 d'espérer : Mais tel servage Donne courage A tout endurer. Et puis, comment, comment oublier Sa beauté, sa beauté, son bien dire, Et son très-doux, très-doux regarder ? Mieux aime mon martyre.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Annales poétiques, ou Almanach des Muses, depuis l'origine de la Poésie Françoise, tome premier, Paris, Delalain, 1778, page 9. A footnote in this edition is attached to the end of line 6 as follows: Grand affolage, grande folie.
Note: Reber uses modernized spellings in lines 1 ("j'avais") and 4 ("Finirais").
1 Reber: "à moi"Text Authorship:
- by François-Auguste Paradis de Moncrif (1687 - 1770), "Chanson" [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Old French (Ancien français) by Thibaut Ier de Navarre (1201 - 1253)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Charles Gustave) Alban Cocural Dorcy (1856 - 1931), "Chanson de Thibault Comte de Champagne et Roi de Navarre", published 1890 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 13, Éd. V. Durdilly & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Édouard Moullé (1845 - 1923), "Chanson de Thibault", published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons tendres du XIIème au XVIIIème siècle, remises au jour et harmonisées par E. Moullé, no. 24, Paris, Éd. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Napoléon-Henri Reber (1807 - 1880), "Chanson de Thibaut" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Chanson de Thibaut de Champagne" [ medium voice and piano ], from 25 Mélodies de J.B. Weckerlin, no. 2, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , "Ein Sonnet", subtitle: "Aus dem 13ten Jahrhundert" ; composed by Johannes Brahms, Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen, Albert Fuchs, Moritz Hauptmann, Fanny Hensel, Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, Mathilde von Kralik, Oskar Raif, Benedikt Randhartinger, Karl Friedrich Zelter.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2014-07-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 63
Alas! had I the power to forget Her beauty, her beauty, her fine speech, And her sweetest, sweetest gaze, I could end my torment; But alas! I cannot tear my heart away from her, And a great folly Hope is to me; But such servitude Imparts courage To endure everything. And what's more, how, how to forget Her beauty, her beauty, her fine speech, And her sweetest, sweetest gaze? I prefer my torment.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Chanson" = "Song"
"Chanson de Thibault" = "Song of Thibaut"
"Chanson de Thibault Comte de Champagne et Roi de Navarre" = "Song of Thibaut, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre"
"Chanson de Thibaut" = "Song of Thibaut"
"Chanson de Thibaut de Champagne" = "Song of Thibaut of Champagne"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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 François-Auguste Paradis de Moncrif (1687 - 1770), "Chanson" [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Old French (Ancien français) by Thibaut Ier de Navarre (1201 - 1253)
This text was added to the website: 2026-03-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 73