by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir à...
Language: French (Français)
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir à la chandelle, Assise aupres du feu, devidant et filant, Direz, chantant mes vers, en vous esmerveillant, Ronsard me celebroit du temps que j'estois belle. Lors vous n'aurez servante oyant telle nouvelle, Desja sous le labeur à demy sommeillant, Qui au bruit de Ronsard ne s'aille resveillant, Benissant vostre nom de louange immortelle. Je seray sous la terre, et fantaume sans os : Par les ombres Myrtheux je prendray mon repos. Vous serez au fouyer une vieille accroupie, Regrettant mon amour, et vostre fier desdain. Vivez, si m'en croyez, n'attendez à demain : Cueillez dés aujourd'huy les roses de la vie.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with footnotesSee also Yeats' free adaptation, When you are old.
Huberti and Swithinbank use this version with (partially) modernized spelling:
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir à la chandelle, Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant, Direz, chantant mes vers, [en]
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Le Second Livre des Sonnets pour Hélène, no. 24 [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 Charles Baudouin (1877 - 1961), "Sonnet pour Hélène", published [1922] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Nouvelle Éd. Mutuelle, H. Hérelle & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raoul Blondel (1864 - 1944), as Raoul Brunel, "Sonnet de Ronsard", published 1925 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugène Bouvy (1859 - 1944), "Quand vous serez bien vieille", op. 3 no. 1, published [1893] [ high voice and piano ], from Chants sur d'anciennes paroles, no. 1, Paris, Éd. 'Au comptoir général de musique' V. Durdilly [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernst Alexander 'Sas' Bunge (1924 - 1980), "À Hélène", 1944, published 1944 [ low voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes de Ronsard, no. 3, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Quand vous serez bien vieille", 1955 [ voice, piano, flute ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Chabot , "Sonnet de Ronsard", published 1922 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Chatillon (1937 - 2019), "Sonnet pour Hélène", 1960 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Colas , "Quand vous serez bien vieille", published 1926 [ tenor and piano ], from Mélodies pour ténor, no. 4, Paris, Édition B. Roudanez [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roland Gérin (b. 1929), "Sonnet pour Hélène" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Théodore Gouvy (1819 - 1898), "Quand vous serez bien vieille", op. 44 no. 6, published 1876 [ voice and piano ], from 40 Poèmes de Ronsard, no. 21, Paris, Éd Simon Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gustave Léon Huberti (1843 - 1910), "Sonnet" [ high voice and piano ], from Huit mélodies, no. 8, Bruxelles: Schott Frères, also set in Dutch (Nederlands), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Georges (Géo) Menier (1880 - 1933), "Sonnet", published [1909] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Roques (d. 1921), "Quand vous serez bien vieille", published 1893 [ voice and piano ], from Souvenirs du Conservatoire, no. 9, Paris, Éd. Gounin-Ghidone [sung text not yet checked]
- by Guido Spinetti (flourished 1897), "Sonnet pour Hélène", published 1897 [ medium voice and piano ], from Treize poésies de Ronsard, mises en musique par Guido Spinetti, et ornées par Lucien Métivet de vignettes modernes dans le goût ancien, préface de Francisque Sarcey, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Flammarion [sung text not yet checked]
- by Éric-Paul Steker (1898 - 1978), "Sonnet pour Hélène", published 1963 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 1, Nice, Éditions Georges Delrieu et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mick Swithinbank (b. 1953), "Quand vous serez bien vieille" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Emmanuel Hiel (1834 - 1899) ; composed by Gustave Léon Huberti.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Heinrich Ludwig Flemmich (1823 - 1890) ; composed by Gustave Léon Huberti.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Humbert Wolfe) , no title, first published 1934
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Pflücke die Rosen, so lange du kannst", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 108