Claude Lorrain – Pastoral scene with classical ruins. Grenoble – Musée des Beaux Arts (about-France.com Baroque and Classicism)
Croyez-moi, hâtons-nous, ma Sylvie, Believe me, let us hasten, my Sylvia,
Usons bien des moments précieux; and profit well by the precious time ;
Contentons ici notre envie, let us here satisfy our desires.
De nos ans le feu nous y convie: The passions of our age invite us ;
Nous ne saurions, vous et moi, faire mieux you and I could not do better.
Quand l’hiver a glacé nos guérets, Winter has covered our fields with ice,
Le printemps vient reprendre sa place, Spring comes to take her place again,
Et ramène à nos champs leurs attraits; and to our pastures gives their charms.
Mais, hélas! quand l’âge nous glace, But when, alas ! old age has chilled our feelings,
Nos beaux jours ne reviennent jamais. our happy days return no more.
Ne cherchons tous les jours qu’à nous plaire, Let us seek all day naught but what pleases us;
Soyons-y l’un et l’autre empressés; let us both be earnest about it ;
Du plaisir faisons notre affaire, let pleasures be our business ;
Des chagrins songeons à nous défaire: let us get rid of all our troubles;
Il vient un temps où l’on en prend assez. a time will come when we shall have enough of them.
Quand l’hiver a glacé nos guérets, …
La Pastorale comique, Sc xiii, p. 7.
The Comic Pastoral, Sc 15, p. 51. (transl. Henri van Laun)
A Pastoral Landscape by Claude Lorrain, 1647 (WikiArt.org)
As you know, I hope to publish a book about Molière. I have not read all of Molière for decades. My PhD thesis was a discussion of six plays. The University of British Columbia’s Library has sent me a PDF copy, which I will convert into text I can edit.
Although I will seldom include the libretto in my little book, I am reading the plays of Molière in their entirety. The carpe diem located above is an “air.”
I apologize for posting rather long articles.
Love to everyone 💕
Benedetto Ferrari : « Non fia più ver » Philippe Jarrousky (contre-ténor)
Pastoral Landscape by Claude Lorrain, 1677 (WikiArt.org)
© Micheline Walker
16 May 2019
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