by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566)
Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines, Tristes soupirs & larmes coutumieres À engendrer de moy maintes riuieres, Dont mes deus yeus sont sources & fontaines : Ô cruautez, ô durtez inhumaines, Piteus regars des celestes lumieres : Du cœur transi ô passions premieres, Estimez vous croitre encore mes peines ? Qu'encor Amour sur moy son arc essaie, Que nouueaus feus me gette & nouueaus dars : Qu'il se despite, & pis qu'il pourra face : Car ie suis tant nauree en toutes pars, Que plus en moy une nouuelle plaie, Pour m'empirer ne pourroit trouuer place.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Œuvres de Louise Labé, texte établi par Charles Boy, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, pages 94-95.
Text Authorship:
- by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 3 [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 Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "Ô, longs désirs", op. 206 no. 4 (2006) [ soprano and guitar ], from Le Jardin de Louise Labé, Suite, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michel Decoust (b. 1936), "Ô longs désirs", 2001 [ speaker, mezzo-soprano, accordion, and cello ], from Cinq Sonnets de Louise Labé, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Olivier Penard (b. 1974), "Ô longs désirs, ô espérances vaines", op. 10 no. 4 (2000), published 2001 [ soprano, string quartet, piano ], from Nécessités de la douleur, no. 4, Édition Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aribert Reimann (b. 1936), "Ô longs desirs, Ô esperances vaines", op. 10 no. 2 (1986), published 1988 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Neun Sonette der Louize Labé, no. 2, Mainz, B. Schott's Söhneconfirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
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. 3, Leipzig, Insel-Verlag, first published 1917
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 91