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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation © by David Wyatt

Ma belle dame, je vous pri
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Ma belle dame, je vous pri
Que vous vueilliés le vostre amy
Reconforter par vo doulchour,
Qui endure tres grief doulour
En esperant vostre mercy.

Car il est en si dur party
Qu'avoir ne puet fors que soussy,
Et si est tout pour vostre amour
  Ma belle dame, [je vous pri
  Que vous vueilliés le vostre amy
  Reconforter par vo doulchour.]

Or ne veuilliés metre en oubli,
Ne point faire morir aynssi
Vostre servant en tel langour;
Ce vous seroit grant deshonnour
Quant par vous peut estre guery.

  Ma belle dame, je vous pri
  [Que vous vueilliés le vostre amy
  Reconforter par vo doulchour,
  Qui endure tres grief doulour
  En esperant vostre mercy.]

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [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 Guillaume Dufay (c1400 - 1474), "Ma belle dame, je vous pri" [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "My fair lady, I beg you", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Alberto Pedrotti

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 21
Word count: 113

My fair lady, I beg you
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
My fair lady, I beg you
To be willing to comfort
Your friend by your sweetness,
He who suffers terrible pain
While hoping for your mercy.

For he is in such a bad state
That he can have nothing but worry
And this is all because of love for you.
  My fair lady, I beg you
  To be willing to comfort
  Your friend by your sweetness.

Do not think of forgetting him
Don't make your servant die in this way,
Languishing like this;
It would be great dishonour to you
Since he could be cured by you.

My fair lady, I beg you
To be willing to comfort
Your friend by your sweetness,
He who suffers terrible pain
While hoping for your mercy.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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 Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2012-05-22
Line count: 21
Word count: 123

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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