by Jean Passerat (1534 - 1602)
Translation by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912)
Laissons le lit et le sommeil
Language: French (Français)
Laissons le lit et le sommeil, Cette journée : Pour nous l'aurore au front vermeil Est déjà née. Or' que le ciel est le plus gai, En ce gracieux moi de mai, Aimons, Mignonne ! Contentons notre ardent désir : En ce monde n'a du plaisir Qui ne s'en donne. Viens, belle, viens te promener Dans ce bocage ; Entends les oiseaux jargonner De leur ramage. Mais écoute comme sur tous Le rossignol est le plus doux, Sans qu'il se lasse. Oublions tout deuil, tout ennui, Pour nous réjouir comme lui: Le temps se passe. Ce vieillard, contraire aux amants, Des ailes porte, Et, en fuyant, nos meilleurs ans Bien loin emporte. Quand ridée un jour tu seras, Mélancolique, tu diras : J'étais peu sage, Qui n'usais point de la beauté Que sitôt le temps a ôté De mon visage. Laissons [ce regret et ce pleur]1 A la vieillesse, Jeunes, il faut cueillir [la fleur]2 De la jeunesse. Or' que le ciel est le plus gai, En ce gracieux mois de mai, Aimons, mignonne. Contentons notre ardent désir : En ce monde n'a du plaisir Qui ne s'en donne.
C. Gounod sets stanzas 1-2, 4
A. Dethou sets stanzas 2-4
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Gounod: "les regrets et les pleurs"
2 Gounod: "les fleurs"
Text Authorship:
- by Jean Passerat (1534 - 1602), "Le premier jour de mai" [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 Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "Ode du premier jour de mai", op. 14 no. 2e (c1940), published 1945 [ high voice and piano ], from Five Songs, op. 14 no. 2, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Amédée Dethou (1811 - 1877), "Le premier jour de mai", published [1859], stanzas 2-4 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies sur des poësies de Victor Hugo et de Ronsard, Bertaut, Desportes et Passerat, Poëtes du XVIè siècle, no. 10, Paris, Imprimerie Bouchard [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Le premier jour de mai", CG 426 (1842), published 1855, stanzas 1-2,4 [ voice and piano ], from 6 mélodies, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jan Mul (1911 - 1971), "Ode du premier jour de mai", 1946 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux poèmes, no. 2, Amsterdam, Édition Broekmans & Van Poppel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Le premier jour de mai", 1873, published 1873 [ medium voice and piano ], from Joyeusetés de bonne compagnie, recueillies et mises en musique, no. 12, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912) , "Love in May", appears in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France: with Other Poems, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 37-39, first published 1872 ; composed by Mary Grant Carmichael.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 185
Love in May
Language: English after the French (Français)
Off with sleep, love, up from bed,
This fair morn;
See, for our eyes the rosy red
New dawn is born;
Now that skies are glad and gay
In this gracious month of May,
Love me, sweet,
Fill my joy in brimming measure,
In this world he hath no pleasure,
That will none of it.
Come, love, through the woods of spring,
Come walk with me;
Listen, the sweet birds jargoning
From tree to tree.
List and listen, over all
Nightingale most musical
That ceases never;
Grief begone, and let us be
For a space as glad as he;
Time's flitting ever.
Old Time, that loves not lovers, wears
Wings swift in flight;
All our happy life he bears
Far in the night.
Old and wrinkled on a day,
Sad and weary shall you say,
'Ah, fool was I,
That took no pleasure in the grace
Of the flower that from my face
Time has seen die.'
Leave then sorrow, teen, and tears
Till we be old;
Young we are, and of our years
Till youth be cold
Pluck the flower; while spring is gay
In this happy month of May
Love me, love;
Fill our joy in brimming measure;
In this world he hath no pleasure
That will none thereof.
Text Authorship:
- by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912), "Love in May", appears in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France: with Other Poems, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., pages 37-39, first published 1872 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean Passerat (1534 - 1602), "Le premier jour de mai"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851 - 1935), "Love in May", published 1904 [voice and piano], London: Leonard & Co. [text not verified]
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2013-02-10
Line count: 40
Word count: 211