Winter, you're nothing but a brute

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by Charles, Duc d'Orléans (1394 - 1465)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CHI ENG ENG FIN GER

Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain. 
Esté est plaisant et gentil,
En tesmoing de May et d'Avril
Qui l'acompaignent soir et main.

Esté revest champs, bois et fleurs, 
De sa livrée de verdure 
Et de maintes autres couleurs,
Par l'ordonnance de Nature.

Mais vous, Yver, trop estes plain
De neige, vent, pluye et grezil ; 
On vous deust bannir en exil.
Sans point flater, je parle plain,
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Debussy

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Poésies complètes de Charles D'Orléans : Revues sur les manuscrits avec préface, notes et glossaire par Charles d'Héricault, Tome II, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1874, pages 48-49.

Text as set by Debussy:

Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain;
Esté est plaisant et gentil
En témoing de may et d'avril 
Qui l'accompaignent soir et main.

Esté revet champs, bois et fleurs
De sa livrée de verdure
Et de maintes autres couleurs
Par l'ordonnance de nature.

Mais vous, Yver, trop estes plein 
De nège, vent, pluye et grézil.
On vous deust banir en éxil.
Sans point flater je parle plein,
Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain.

Text Authorship:

by Charles, Duc d'Orléans (1394 - 1465), title 1: "Rondeau CCCXXXIII", title 2: "Chanson LXXXII", written 1431 [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 Jean Berger, né Arthur Schloßberg (1909 - 2002), "Hiver, vous n'êtes qu'un vilain", 1968, published 1968 [ medium voice (mezzo-soprano) and viola ], from Six Rondeaux, no. 4, Denver (Colorado), John Sheppard Music Press [sung text not yet checked]
by Pierre (Onfroy) de Bréville (1861 - 1949), "Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain", published 1931 [ high voice and piano ], from 12 Rondels, no. 5, Éd. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain", L. 99/(92) no. 3 (1898-1908) [ four-part mixed chorus ], from Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orléans, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Fernand Masson (d. 1942), "Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain", 1912, published 1913 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six chansons sur des poèmes de Charles d'Orléans, no. 3, Édition Carl Selva [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) , "Winter, You're Naught but a Rogue", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Linda Godry) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Auditorium du Louvre

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 70

Winter, you're nothing but a brute

Language: English after the French (Français)

Winter, you're nothing but a brute;
Summer is pleasant and kind
By the testimony of May and April
Who accompany it eve and morn.

Summer clothes fields, woods and flowers
In its livery of green
And of many other colors
According to nature's decree.

But you, Winter, are too full
Of snow, wind, rain and hail.
You should be banished into exile.
Without the least flattery, I tell you straight:
Winter, you're nothing but a brute!

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Chanson LXXXII" = "Chanson LXXXII"
"Hiver, vous n'êtes qu'un vilain" = "Winter, you're nothing but a brute"
"Rondeau CCCXXXIII " = "Rondeau CCCXXXIII"
"Yver, vous n'estes qu'un vilain" = "Winter, you're nothing but a brute"
"Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain" = "Winter, you're nothing but a brute"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Charles, Duc d'Orléans (1394 - 1465), title 1: "Rondeau CCCXXXIII", title 2: "Chanson LXXXII", written 1431
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-07
Line count: 13
Word count: 76