Today is not a good blogging day. I have been doing maintenance work on my posts and ended up reinserting images that had disappeared and revising certain blogs. I also discovered a missing blog on Chaucer & Valentine’s Day and rediscovered Charles d’Orléans.
Charles d’Orléans (24 November 1394, Paris – 5 January 1465, Amboise) was a French Duke who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt, on the 25th of October 1415, and spent nearly 25 years in England, as a “prisoner.” Because he was a possible heir to the throne of France, the English king, Henry V, would not allow him to leave England.
Charles’ first wife died in childbirth, but their daughter Joan survived. His second wife died while he was a prisoner in England. But when he returned to France, he married 14-year-old Marie de Clèves (19 September 1426 – 23 August 1487). He was then 46. She gave birth to the first of their three children, Marie d’Orléans, in 1457. Their second child, born in 1462, would be Louis XII, king of France. Their third child, Anne of Orleans, was born in 1464.
When Charles was released, in 1440, “speaking better English than French,” according to the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed (Charles d’Orléans, Wikipedia), he had become not only a poet, but an excellent poet. One of his poems is exquisite. It’s about winter: Le temps a laissé son manteau… (The weather left its coat…). It is included in my now relatively old, but updated post. However, for this post, I have chosen a frivolous song.
Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) wrote music based on this poem, but we also have a Dutch song, mixing French and Dutch. Moreover, there is a site that features Charles singing a St Valentine’s song. When he returned to France, Charles d’Orléans made Valentine’s Day known in courtly circles.
It seems Geoffrey Chaucer is the father of Valentine’s day. He wrote that Valentine’s Day was the day on which birds mated. This myth probably existed long before Chaucer, but he made it official, so to speak. It is included in his Parlement of Fowles, 1382.
Students of musicology smile or laugh when they hear the onomatopoeic effects of Clément Janequin‘s Le Chant des oyseaulx.
composer: Clément Janequin (c. 1485 – 1558)
work: Le Chant des oyseaulx
performers: Ensemble Clément Janequin
director: Dominique Visse
Dominique Visse (countertenor), Michel Laplénie (tenor), Philippe Cantor (baritone), Antoine Sicot (bass), Claude Debôves (lute)
1)
Reveillez vous, cueurs endormis/ Le dieu d’amour vous sonne.
À ce premier jour de may/ Oyseaulx feront merveilles/ Pour vous mettre hors d’esmay. / Destoupez vos oreilles./ Et farirariron, Et farirariron, Et farirarison,/
ferely, ioly, ioly, ioly, ioly, ioly,/ Et farirariron, farirariron, ferely, ioly/ Vous serez tous en joye mis,/ Car la saison est bonne.
Awake, sleepy hearts,/ The god of love calls you./ On this first day of May,/ The birds will make you marvel/. To lift yourself from dismay,/ Unclog your ears./ And fa la la la la (etc…)/ You will be moved to joy,/ For the season is good.
2)
Vous orrez, à mon advis,/ Une doulce musique,/ Que fera le roy mauvis,/ D’une voix authentique :/Ti, ti, pi-ti (etc…)/ Rire et gaudir c’est mon devis,/ Chacun s’i habandonne.
You will hear, I advise you,/ A sweet music/ That the royal blackbird will sing/ In a pure voice./ Ti, ti, pi-ti (etc…)/ To laugh and rejoice is my device, Each with abandon.
3)
Rossignol du boys joly,/ À qui la voix resonne,/ Pour vous mettre hors d’ennuy
Votre gorge iargonne:/ Fuyez, regretz, pleurs et soucy,/ Car la saison l’ordonne.
Nightingale of the pretty woods,/ Whose voice resounds,/ So you don’t become bored,/ Your throat jabbers away:/ Frian, frian (etc…)/ Flee, regrets, tears and worries,/ For the season commands it.
4)
Arrière; maistre coucou,/ Sortez de no chapitre,/ Chacun vous donne au hibou /
Car vous n’estes qu’un traistre,/ Car vous n’estes qu’un traistre,
Coucou, coucou, coucou, coucou,/ Par tra-i-son,/ en chacun nid,/ Pondez sans qu’on vous sonne,/ Reveillez vous, cueurs endormiz, reveillez vous, / Le dieu d’amours vous sonne.
Turn around, master cuckoo/ Get out of our company./ Each of us gives you a ‘bye-bye’/ For you are nothing but a traitor./ Cuckoo, cuckoo (etc…) / Treacherously in others’ nests,/ You lay without being called./ Awake, sleepy hearts,/ The god of love is calling you.
* * *
There are several versions of Le Chant des oyseaulx. I used the lyrics provided by l’Ensemble Clément Janequin on YouTube. I believe our version has four stanzas. In order to see various versions of Le Chant des oyseaulx, simply click on lyrics.*
Clément Janequin (c. 1485 – 1558) was born in Châtellerault, near Poitiers, and was a French composer of the Renaissance. His music is programmatic in that it has an extra-musical narrative, such as the singing of birds. Moreover, as did most composers of his era, his main musical challenge was polyphony, mixing voices. At times, Le Chant des oyseaulx sounds like a canonand is a canon.
By and large, Janequin held positions that earned him a meagre income, a matter he mentioned in his will. He was a clerk to Lancelot du Fau the future Bishop of Luçon until the bishop’s death in 1523. He then held a similar position with the Bishop of Bordeaux. During that period of his life, he also became a priest. Moreover, he held positions in Anjou.
His life style improved after he met the Jean de Guise and Charles de Ronsard, Pierre de Ronsard‘s brother. Pierre de Ronsard (11 September 1524 – 28 December 1585), the “Prince of Poets,” was the leader of an infomal académie known as La Pléiade, named after the Alexandrian Pleiad, 3rd century BC.
Clément Janequin was a very prolific songwriter. Guise and Ronsard helped him secure a position as curate at Unverre, near Chartres. At that point, he started to live in Paris and his chansons were extremely popular. In fact, Pierre Attaingnant[i] (c. 1494 – late 1551 or 1552), printed five volumes of Janequin’s Chansons. In Paris, Janequin also became “singer ordinary” of the King’s Chapel and later “composer ordinary.” Janequin composed very few sacred works.
He is best-known for Le Chant des oyseaulx and La Bataille but also composed love songs, some of which are explicit. In fact, Le Chant des oyseaulxis a love song.
On the 13th of August 2012, I posted a blog on “Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Marian Anderson: “Plaisir d’amour,” sung by Marian Anderson.[i] New information surfaced when I wrote about “Le Roi a fait battre tambour.” As a result we need an update.
The Dates: circa…
Marian Anderson’s rendition of Plaisir d’amour remains delightful, but it is different. As for the date given by above, 1785, it may be the date “Plaisir d’amour” was first performed, but it may be safer to write c. 1785. According to my earlier post, the lyrics, or poem, were written in 1780, now c. 1780, by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian. But the lyrics were not set to music until 1784 or c. 1784, by Jean Paul Égide Martini.
From Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf to J. P. É. Martini
Composer Jean Paul Égide Martini, also known as Martini Il Tedesco, was born in Freystadt, Bavaria and his birth-name is Johann Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf (31 August 1741 – 10 February 1816). Martini changed his name when he arrived in France. Martini Il Tedesco or Il Tedesco Martini would mean the German Martini.
The Revival of Ancient Music
However, what I should underline is the current revival of Baroque music and ancient music, interpreted using the instruments of that era in music, the seventeenth century or 1600 to 1730/50. Eras in music overlap and going from era to era does not necessarily mean progress. The same is true of eras in the fine arts.
The leader in the revival of Baroque or early music is Jordi Savall i Bernadet (born January 14, 1942, in Igualada, Spain), known as Jordi Savall. I became aware of his effort when I saw Alain Corneau‘s Tous les matins du monde.[ii] a 1991 film about composers Sainte-Colombe and Marin Marais, 17th-century French musicians.
The music Savall adapted and performed forAlain Corneau‘s film earned him aCésar (a French Oscar)from theFrench film industry in 1992 and the soundtrack tothis film sold more than a million copies worldwide (Wikipedia). There is a song entitled Sur tous les chemins du monde.
Poème Harmonique’s Vincent Dumestre is also engaged in a revival, but he seems to be focussing on songs. He is recording old songs as they were performed when they were composed. It is in this respect that Claire Lefilliâtre‘s rendition differs from Marian Anderson’s and vice versa.
Plaisir d’amour
The words, or lyrics, based on a poem by Jean de Florian (1755–1794), were written in 1780, now c. 1780;
Refrain:
Plaisir d’amour ne dure qu’un moment.
Chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie.
The pleasure of love lasts only a moment.The pain of love lasts a lifetime.
1)
J’ai tout quitté pour l’ingrate Sylvie.
Elle me quitte pour prendre un autre amant.
I left everything for the ungrateful Sylvia.She is leaving me for another lover.Refrain
2)
“Tant que cette eau coulera doucement,
Vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,
Je t’aimerai”, me répétait Sylvie.
L’eau coule encore, elle a changé pourtant.
“As long as this water runs gentlyTowards the brook that borders the meadow,I will love you,” Sylvia said repeatedly.The water still runs, but she has changed.Refrain
composer: unknown (c. 1750)
performers: Le Poème harmonique
director: Vincent Dumestre
Le Roi a fait battre tambour
1. Le roi a fait battre tambour Pour voir toutes ses dames(To see all his ladies)
Et la première qu’il a vue (the first one)
Lui a ravi son âme
The king had drummers beat their drums / So he could see all the ladies of his kingdom / And the first one he saw / Stole his soul
2. Marquis dis-moi la connais-tu
Qui est cette jolie dame ?
Le marquis lui a répondu
Sire roi, c’est ma femme(she is my wife)
Marquis do tell if you know her / Who is that pretty lady / The Marquis answered / Your Majesty, she is my wife
3. Marquis, tu es plus heureux que moi
D’avoir femme si belle Si tu voulais me la donner (If you wanted)
Je me chargerais d’elle
Marquis, you are happier than I / To have so beautiful a wife / If you gave her to me / I would look after her
4. Sire, si vous n’étiez le roi (if you were not)
J’en tirerais vengeance
Mais puisque vous êtes le roi (since your are)
À votre obéissance(obedience)
Your Majesty / Were you not the King / I would seek revenge / But since you are the King / I must obey
5. Marquis ne te fâche donc pas
T’auras ta récompense
Je te ferai dans mes armées
Beau maréchal de France
Marquis, do not get angry / You will be rewarded / In my armies you will be / A handsome maréchal (marshall) of France
6. Adieu, ma mie, adieu, mon cœur ! (Farewell)
Adieu mon espérance(my hope)
Puisqu’il nous faut servir le roi Séparons-nous d’ensemble (Let us separate)
Farewell, my dearest, farewell my heart / Farewell my hopes / Since we must the King serve / Let us part
7. La reine a fait faire un bouquet
De belles fleurs de lys
Et la senteur de ce bouquet
A fait mourir marquise
The Queen had a bouquet made / Of beautiful lillies / And the scent of this bouquet / Caused the Marquise to die
The Story behind the song
We know that Le Roi a fait battre tambour was written in 1750. However, it is difficult to determine whose story the song tells. Opinions differ. But, in all likelihood, the song tells of events that took place at the end of the sixteenth century, during the reign of Henri IV (13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), King of France and King of Navarre.
Henri II (31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. He was wounded during a jousting tournament and died. Henri II had three sons and all three were potential heirs to the throne of France or dauphins. It therefore seemed that the Valois Kings of France would continue to reign for a long time.However, Henri II died prematurely. Consequently, when his sons ascended the throne, they were too young and the person who reigned was their mother, Catherine de’ Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589).
The Fate of Henri II’s sons AND THAT OF mARGUERITE
Charles IX (27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) ascended the throne at the age of 10 (1560 or 1561) and died at the age of 24. He did not survive the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre which his mother had forced him to order and which began on the 23rd of August 1572.
The Massacre took place a few days after Marguerite de Valois was forced (by Catherine de’ Medici) to marry Henri IV, King of Navarre. She protected her new husband but, afterwards, the couple seldom shared the same roof.
Henry III (19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) became king in 1574, at the age of twenty-three and fell ill and died at the age of 38.
Marguerite de valois and the Salic Law
The Salic law prevented Marguerite de Valois to succeed her brothers. Women could not ascend the throne. So, ironically, Henri IV, the Huguenot (French Calvinist Protestant ) King she had been forced to marry, was suddenly the new heir to the throne of France.
Henri IV, the King of Navarre, became King of France and Navarre in 1589 and was crowned when his official mistress, Gabrielle d’Estrées, suggested he convert to Catholicism, which he did. He is reported to have said: Paris vaut bien une messe (Paris [being King of France] is well worth a mass).
Marguerite de Valois as murderess
When Henri IV was having his marriage to Marguerite de Valois (la reine Margot) annulled, Gabrielle d’Estrées (1573– 10 April 1599), his official mistress, died of eclampsia during a pregnancy. She was bearing their fourth child. Rumours started circulating that she had been poisoned by the Queen (Marguerite de Valois). Therefore, the lady killed by the scent of a bouquet of lilies was Gabrielle d’Estrées, an extremely beautiful woman.
Henri IV married Marie de’ Medici (26 April 1575 – 4 July 1642) in October 1600, but the Marguerite de Valois’s title remain that of Queen.
More on the Song
The song is performed in the French of the Ancien Régime, i.e.before the French Revolution (1789-1794). Roi is pronounced Roé, as it is still pronounced by many French Canadians. Moreover, the lyrics I have provided are not identical to the words I have found. I will have to transcribe this older version of the song.
There are several recordings of “Le Roi a fait battre tambour.” The words given above are the words used by Nana Mouskouri.[i]
Conclusion
So now we know the probable origin of the our featured song, a famous song. But more importantly, we have seen how dangerous jousting tournaments can be, if one is married to a Medici. Catherine de’ Medici was manipulative and bloodthirsty and ruined her children’s life. Henri II had three sons, yet the Valois line died in 1589, the year Henri III and Catherine de’ Medici died.
C’est mon ami is a delightful song composed by Marie-Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793). It is discussed in a blog which you may like to see. The link to this blog is Tea at Trianon C’est mon ami.[i] The blog Tea at Trianon is devoted to several aspects of Marie-Antoinette’s life. As for this article, it is less ambitious. I will focus mainly on the song (music and lyrics), but will point out first that:
other royals were composers: Louis XIII of France (27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) and Frederick the Great of Prussia (24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786)
Marie-Antoinette’s reputation needs rehabilitation. The Marie-Antoinette we know is a queen who was not sensitive to the needs of the French nation at a time when the French could barely put bread on their table. However, the “let them eat cake” is probably apocryphal and although rumour has it that she was a lesbian, which may be true, this information is mostly irrelevant. She was, however, extremely slow in consummating her marriage to Louis XVI.
It is true that although she married the Dauphin,[ii] Louis XVI, in 1770, at the age of 15, the marriage was not officially consummated until the 30th of August 1777, three years after the death of Louis XV. Marie-Antoinette was then 22. She gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, called MadameRoyale, on the 19th of December 1778. On the 22nd of October 1781, she gave birth to a son, Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin of France. After the birth of the Dauphin, her duties as the wife of Louis XVI, a king, had been fulfilled.
It is also true that she was a victim. Marie-Antoinette was condemned to death and executed by guillotine on October 16th, 1793, nine months after the execution, by guillotine, of Louis XVI, her husband. Louis XVI was executed on January 21st, 1793. Neither should have suffered such a terrible fate.
Which takes us to Marie-Antoinette’s gifts, the most important of which was music. Marie-Antoinette loved music and was a composer. Recordings have been made of her music. You will find a list of recent recordings by clicking on Music or on the following link: http://www.ladyreading.net/marieantoinette/mus-en.html.
In Austria, Marie-Antoinette had studied under composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, whose patron she became as Queen of France. However, in France, her teacher was le Mozart noir,Joseph Bo(u)logne, Chevalier de Saint-George (25 December 1745 – June 10, 1799), a prolific composer born in Guadeloupe to a white Frenchplantation owner, Georges Bologne de Saint-George, and to Nanon, a Wolof former slave.
Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George
Marie-Antoinette composed the music to C’est mon ami and Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian set lyrics to her music. It has been suggested that Marie-Antoinette wrote both the music and the song, which, to my knowledge, has not been confirmed. I am providing links to related blogs, but the pleasant surprise is the short song.
C’est mon ami is a bucolic or pastoral song. Mon ami, my friend, is a shepherd. The song therefore belongs to a tradition dating back to Giovanni Battista Guarini‘s Pastor Fido (The Faithful Shepherd), published in 1590. The tradition was kept alive in various seventeenth-century salons where salonniers and salonnières enjoyed making believe they were shepherds and shepherdesses. It was also kept alive in L’Astrée, a lenghty novel written by Honoré d’Urfée (February 11, 1568 – June 1, 1625) over several years and published between 1607 and 1627.
In the Petit Trianon, a small castle built for Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764)[iii]but given to Marie-Antoinette by Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette liked to imagine she was a shepherdess. The castle had been built on the grounds of Versailles. So here is our pastoral song.
1)
Ah s’il est dans votre village
Un berger sensible et charmant
Qu’on chérisse au premier moment
Qu’on aime ensuite davantage
Ah, if there is in your village / a sensitive and charming shepherd / whom one cherishes from the first moment / and then loves even more
Refrain
C’est mon ami
Rendez-le moi
J’ai son amour
Il a ma foi
He is my friend / Give him back to me / I have his love / He has my faith
2)
Si par sa voix douce et plaintive
Il charme l’écho de vos bois
Si les accents de son hautbois
Rendent la bergère pensive
If with his sweet and plaintive voice / He charms the echo of your forest / if the accents of his oboe / make the shepherdess pensive (wondering)
Refrain
C’est encore lui… It’s him again3)
Si même n’osant rien vous dire
Son seul regard sait attendrir
Si sans jamais faire rougir
Sa gaité fait toujours sourire
If even not daring to tell you anything / By merely looking at you he can touch you / if without ever making you blush / his cheerfulness always makes you smile
Refrain
C’est bien lui… It’s him…
4)
Si passant près de sa chaumière
Le pauvre en voyant son troupeau
Ose demander un agneau
Et qu’il obtienne encore la mère
If passing by his cottage / and seeing his flock / a poor man dares ask for a lamb / And also gets the Lamb’s Mother
Refrain
Oui c’est bien lui… Yes it’s him…
_________________________
[i] There are several websites devoted to Marie-Antoinette as composer.
[ii] During the Ancien Régime, before the French Revolution, the heir to the throne was called the Dauphin.
[iii] Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764) was Louis XV’s chief mistress from 1745 until her death. She died of tuberculosis before the Petit Trianon was completed. However, she participated in designing it. Her most notorious successor as chief mistress (Maîtresse-en-titre) was Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793). The poor woman was executed by guillotine.
The Sundial, a woman is crying, a man is going away, by Georges Barbier (1882-1832)
Illustration for an Almanach, 1922
(with permission from Art Resource, NY)
Jacques Brel‘s “Ne me quitte pas” is a song one can never forget. It has a visceral quality that few singers other than the very intense Brel, its creator, can convey. Moreover, it is a poem and poems tend to suffer in translation, particularly in a literal translation. But I am nevertheless providing a literal translation. The song is translated one paragraph at a time.
Fortunately, Rod McKuen′s rendition of “Ne me quitte pas” is as translations should be, i.e. a rendition. It goes beyond the words to convey the same despair as Brel’s song. At times, he uses Brel’s devastating imagery, but at times, he strays from it in order to give the translation a more or less equivalent degree of intensity as the original version. Jacques Brel was a chansonnier, a singer-songwriter, and so was McKuen. Moreover, they were kindred spirits, so there is considerable affinity between Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas” and McKuen’s “If you go away.” We will therefore hear both versions.
McKuen is now 79. As for Brel, his signature cigarette killed him at 49.
* * *
Barbier’s illustration dates back to an age of affluence and composure. It does not seem to match “Ne me quitte pas,” except remotely and in another mode. Barbier’s illustration is an Art Deco classic and reminds me of the television episodes of Agatha Christie ‘s Hercule Poirot, her charming Belgian detective. Actor David Suchet has become Poirot’s embodiment. But I could not resist Chabrier’s red and black illustration: le rouge et le noir ne s’épousent-ils pas? Unlike Brel’s chanson, which expresses raw grief, the lady’s tears suggest mere sorrow. But the lady is in a public environment, she is French, and appearances are deceptive.
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas / Il faut oublier / Tout peut s’oublier / Qui s’enfuit déjà / Oublier le temps / Des malentendus / Et le temps perdu / À savoir comment / Oublier ces heures / Qui tuaient parfois / À coups de pourquoi / Le cœur du bonheur / Ne me quitte pas (repeated)
Don’t leave me now / We must forget/ All can be forgotten / It escapes already / Forget the time / The misunderstandings / And the moments lost / We must know how / Forget those hours / Which killed at times / With each thrust of ‘why’ / The heart of happiness / Don’t leave me now… (repeated)
Moi je t’offrirai / Des perles de pluie / Venues de pays / Où il ne pleut pas / Je creuserai la terre / Jusqu’après ma mort / Pour couvrir ton corps / D’or et de lumiere / Je ferai un domaine / Où l’amour sera roi / Où l’amour sera loi / Où tu seras reine / Ne me quitte pas…
Me I’ll offer you / Pearls of rain / That come from a country / Where rain never falls / I would mine [dig into] the earth / ‘Til after my death / To cover your body / With gold and with light / I’ll make a kingdom / Where love shall be king / Where love shall be law / Where you shall be queen / Don’t leave me now/ Don’t leave me now / Don’t leave me now…
Ne me quitte pas / Je t’inventerai / Des mots insensés / Que tu comprendras / Je te parlerai / De ces amants-là / Qui ont vu deux fois / Leur cœur s’embraser / Je te raconterai / L’histoire de ce roi / Mort de n’avoir pas / Pu te rencontrer / Ne me quitte pas…
Don’t leave me now / I’ll invent for you / Such [nonsensical] words / That you’ll understand / I’ll speak to you / Of those lovers there / Who have seen two times their hearts all ablaze / I will recount for you / The story of that king / Dead for not having the chance to meet you / Don’t leave me now…
On a vu souvent / Rejaillir le feu / D’un ancien volcan / Qu’on croyait trop vieux / Il est paraît-il / Des terres brûlées / Donnant plus de blé / Qu’un meilleur avril / Et quand vient le soir / Pour qu’un ciel flamboie / Le rouge et le noir / Ne s’épousent-ils pas / Ne me quitte pas…
We have often seen / Fire gush out / From an ancient volcano / We thought was too old / There are, it seems / Some scorched fields / That yield more wheat / Than the best of April / And when evening comes / So that the sky is blaze / The black and the red / Do they not wed / Don’t leave me now…
Ne me quitte pas / Je ne vais plus pleurer / Je ne vais plus parler / Je me cacherai là / À te regarder / Danser et sourire / Et à t’écouter / Chanter et puis rire / Laisse-moi devenir / L’ombre de ton ombre / L’ombre ta main / L’ombre de ton chien / Ne me quitte pas…
Don’t leave me now / I’ll no longer cry / I’ll no longer speak / I’ll hide right there / Just to look at you / Watch you dance and smile / And listen to you / As you sing and laugh / Let me become / The shadow of your shadow / The shadow of your hand / The shadow of your hound / Don’t leave me now…
Above is a lovely illustration by 
