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Je voudrois estre Ixion et Tantale, Dessus la rouë et dans les eaux là bas, [Et nu à nu]1 presser entre mes bras Ceste beauté qui les anges égale. S'ainsi estoit, toute peine fatale Me seroit [douce]2 et ne me chaudroit pas, Non, d'un vautour fussé-je le repas, Non, qui le roc remonte et redevale. Luy tastonner seulement le tetin, [Ce seul plaisir changeroit]3 mon destin Au sort meilleur des princes de l'Asie : Un demy-dieu me feroit son baiser, Et flanc à flanc [mon feu desembraser]4, Un [de ceux-là]5 qui mangent l'ambroisie.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Oeuvres complètes de P. de Ronsard, Nouvelle Édition, Tome I, Paris, Chez P. Jannet, 1857, pages 26-27.
1 Maletty: "Et quelquefois"2 Maletty: "doux"
3 Maletty: "Et changeroit l'obscur de"; Bertrand: "A descouvert, changeroit"
4 Bertrand, Maletty: "entre ses bras m'aiser"
5 Bertrand: "des grands Dieux"
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 4, first published 1553 [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 Anthoine de Bertrand (1540? - 1581?), "Je voudrois estre Ixion et Tantale", 1576, published 1578, first performed 1576 [ vocal quartet a cappella ], from Les Amours de Pierre de Ronsard à 4 parties, Livre 1, no. 13 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean de Maletty (flourished 16th century), "Je voudrois estre Ixion et Tantale" [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , David Wyatt
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 92
I'd be Ixion and Tantalus On the wheel or in the waters of the Beyond To hold [naked]1 in my arms This beauty who equals the angels. If it were so, every deadly pain Would be sweet to me and wouldn't bother me No, I'd even be a vulture's meal Even if he climbed the rock again and re-ate me. Just to nibble [a nipple, Could change the uncertainty of]2 my destiny To a fate better than that of the princes of Asia Her kiss would make me a demi-god And [to lie at ease between her arms, side by side]3, [Would make me one of the gods]4 who feed on ambrosia.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Translator's notes
Stanza 1, lines 1-2: in Greek myth, Ixion was broken on a wheel in Hades every day; and Tantalus forever kept tied in a lake with food and drink just out of reach -- 'tantalisingly' close as we say.
Stanza 2, line 3: Prometheus had his liver ripped out every day by a vulture (or eagle) and it grew back overnight.
1 Maletty: "something"
2 Bertrand: "an exposed/ Nipple would change"; Maletty: "a nipple, too,/ Could change the uncertainty of"
3 Bertrand: "to douse my flame in hers"
4 Bertrand: "Would make me one of the great gods"; Maletty: "Would make me one of those above"
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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 4, first published 1553
This text was added to the website: 2012-06-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 112