Ô ma belle maistresse ! à tous les moins prenez
De moy [vostre servant]1 ce Rossignol en cage,
Il est mon prissonnier, et je [vis]2 en servage
Sous vous, qui sans mercy en prison me tenez :

[Allez donc, Rossignol, en sa chambre, et]3 sonnez
Mon dueil à son oreille avec vostre ramage,
Et s'il vous est possible, émouvez son courage
A me faire mercy puis vous en revenez :

Non non, ne venez point, que feriez vous chez moy ?
Sans aucun reconfort, vous languiriez d'esmoy,
Un prisonnier ne peut un autre secourir.

Je n'ay pas Rossignol sur vostre bien envie,
Seulement je me hay et me plains de ma [vie
Qui languit]4 en prison et [si n'y]5 peut mourir.

N. Millot sets stanza 1

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Pierre de Ronsard, Nouvelle Continuation des Amours (1556). Les Amours, Texte établi par Hugues Vaganay, Garnier, 1923.

¹ Gouvy: "vostre esclave"; Millot: "notre servant"
² Millot: "suis"
³ Gouvy: "Allez, Rossignol, en sa chambre, beau rossignol, allez,"
⁴ Gouvy: "vie./ Je languist"
⁵ Boni: "si ne"; Gouvy: "je n'y"

Text Authorship:

• by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Pièces retranchées, no. 29 [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 Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Ô ma belle maistresse", published 1607 [ vocal quartet ], from Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, II, no. 16, Paris, Pierre Ballard [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Louis Théodore Gouvy (1819 - 1898), "Le Rossignol", op. 42 (Six Poésies de Ronsard) no. 2, published 1876 [ voice and piano ], from 40 Poèmes de Ronsard, no. 11, Paris, Éd Simon Richault [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Nicolas Millot (d. c1590), "Ô ma belle maistresse", stanza 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by Jean de Castro.
  • Go to the text.
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (David Wyatt) , "O my fair mistress", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2012-07-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 122

O my fair mistress, whatever you do take
From [me, your servant,]1 this nightingale in a cage;
He is my prisoner, and I [live]2 in service
[To]3 you who, without mercy, keep me in prison.

On then, nightingale, and in her bedroom sing
Warbling of my sorrow into her ear,
And if you can, stir up her courage
To grant me pity -- and then come back.

No, do not come back, what would you do here with me?
With no comfort you would pine away from your agitation;
One prisoner cannot help another.

I am not jealous, nightingale, about your good fortune,
I just hate myself and bemoan my life
Pining away in prison, and yet unable to die [there]4.