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Tag Archives: Song & Lyrics

“J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur” : the Lyrics

05 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ Comments Off on “J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur” : the Lyrics

Tags

18th-Century France, François Boucher, J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Pastoral, Song & Lyrics

Portrait_of_a_Young_Woman_in_Profile_with_Pearls_in_Her_Hair

 
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with Pearls in Her Hair, c. 1750
François Boucher (29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770)
(Photo credit: Sights Within)
 
The complete lyrics are at
http://athena.unige.ch/athena/rousseau/devin/rousseau_devin_village1.html
in French
The complete intermezzo is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAstYbAyUOM&list=PL5644F9B59F55E5D1
in French (John Portman)
 

A Summary of the Plot, from Wikipedia

“Colin and Colette love one another, yet they suspect each other of being unfaithful — in Colin’s case, with the lady of the manor, and in Colette’s with a courtier. They each seek the advice and support of the village soothsayer in order to reinforce their love. After a series of deceptions, Colin and Colette reconcile and are happily married.” (See Le Devin du village, Wikipedia.)

—ooo—

“J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur”

Colette soupirant et s’essuyant les yeux de son tablier.
(Colette, sighing and drying her eyes with her apron.)
 
I.
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur;  (I have lost all my happiness;) 
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur ;  (I have lost my servant;)
  • Colin me délaisse ! (Colin is staying away from me!)
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur ; (I have lost my servant;)
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur ; (I have lost all my happiness;)
  • Colin me délaisse ! (Colin is staying away from me!)
  • Colin me délaisse !
2.
  • Hélas il a pu changer ! (Alas, he was able to change!)
  • Je voudrais n’y plus songer: (I would like no longer to think about it;)
  • Hélas, hélas (Alas)
  • Hélas,
  • Hélas, il a pu changer ! (Alas, he was able to change!)
  • Je voudrais n’y plus songer: (I would like no longer to think about it;
  • Hélas, Hélas
  • J’y songe sans cesse ! (I am forever thinking about it!)
  • J’y songe sans cesse !
3.
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur ;
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur ;
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur ;
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur ;
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • Colin me délaisse !
4./5.
  • Il m’aimait autrefois, et ce fut mon malheur. (He loved me in the past, and that was my misfortune.)
  • Mais quelle est donc celle qu’il me préfère ? (But who is the one he prefers to me?)
  • Elle est donc bien charmante ! Imprudente Bergère, (She must be very charming!  Careless Shepherdess,)
  • Ne crains-tu point les maux que j’éprouve en ce jour? (Don’t you fear the pain [ills] I feel today?)
  • Colin m’a pu changer, tu peux avoir ton tour. (Colin was able to replace me, you may have your turn.)
  • Que me sert d’y rêver sans cesse ? (Of what use is it to me to think about it always?)
  • Rien ne peut guérir mon amour, (Nothing can cure my love,
  • Et tout augmente ma tristesse.  (And everything increases my sadness.) .
J’ai perdu mon serviteur ;
J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur ;
Colin me délaisse !
Colin me délaisse !
 
6.
  • Je veux le haïr … je le dois … (I want to hate him … I must …)
  • Peut-être il m’aime encore … pourquoi me fuir sans cesse ? (Perhaps he still loves me … why is he always avoiding [fleeing from] me?)
  • Il me cherchait tant autrefois ! (He so sought me in the past!)
  • Le Devin du canton fait ici sa demeure ; The township‘s soothsayer makes his home here)
  • Il sait tout ; il saura le sort de mon amour. (He knowns everything; he will know the fate of my love.)
  • Je le vois, et je veux m’éclaircir en ce jour. (I see him, and I want matters cleared up for me today.)

RELATED ARTICLE: my personal favourite post, because of Pergolesi, who died at 26.

  • A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (michelinewalker.com)

artwork_images_10_783397_francois-boucher

François Boucher
(Photo credit: Google images)
 
______________________________
Sources:  
  • Opera Today (about the performance below)
  • http://athena.unige.ch/athena/rousseau/devin/rousseau_devin_village1.html (complete text)
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAstYbAyUOM&list=PL5644F9B59F55E5D1 (complete intermède) (John Portman)
 
Gabriela Bürgler (soprano)
Cantus Firmus Consort & Cantus Firmus Kammerchor
Andreas Reize (conductor)
artwork: unidentifield
http://www.cantusfirmus-ensemble.com/
 

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU: Overture

head-of-a-woman-from-behind

Head of a woman from behind, c. 1740
François Boucher

“J’AI PERDU TOUT MON BONHEUR”

 

Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_(painted_portrait)

 
© Micheline Walker
5 December 2013
WordPress
  
  
 
Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1753)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 

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J. J. Rousseau’s “Le Devin du village”

04 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

François Boucher, J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, La Serva padrona, Le Devin du village, Pergolesi, Querelle des Bouffons, Song & Lyrics

 
Portrait_of_a_Young_Woman_in_Profile_with_Pearls_in_Her_Hair
 
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with Pearls in Her Hair, c. 1750
François Boucher (29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770)
(Photo credit: Sights Within) 
 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a political philosopher, one of the encyclopédistes, an educator, a novelist, and a composer.  He wrote the Encyclopédie‘s entry on “Music.”  As a musician, he was also the main figure, with the Baron Melchior von Grimm, in a “Quarrel” (“Querelle des Bouffons” or “War of the Comic Artists”), perhaps the most famous mêlée in the history of music, not to say eighteenth-century philosophy: sentiment over reason!  Not quite, but nearly so.  I have posted an article on Pergolesi and discussed this event.

The “Querelle des Bouffons” started after the second performance, in Paris, of a short intermezzo, La Serva padrona (The Servant Turned Mistress), composed by Pergolesi (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736),  performed at the Royal Academy of Music, the Paris Opera, on 1 August 1752. Pergolesi’s intermezzo charmed the audience and everyone wrote a letter or pamphlet, some 61 documents, on the subject.  The many commentators were writing about the relative merits of French lyric tragedy, a serious genre, and Italian opera buffa, meant to entertain the audience during a pause (between acts).  The letters made it clear.  By and large, the audience wanted to be moved by music, moved to tears, in some cases.

220px-DevinVillage

Jean-Jacques Rousseau had started the quarrel and part of his arsenal was an operetta, or intermède, entitled Le Devin du village (The Village’s Soothsayer), first performed at Fontainebleau, on 18 October 1752, two months after the performance of the Serva padrona. However, as noted above, what was at the stake was “reason” versus “sentiment.”  Reason was not defeated, but sentiment gained considerable ground. Jean-Philippe Rameau was at the time the most prominent composer in France. His tragédie lyrique came under attack, but his 1722 Traité de l’harmonie, the theory of music, remains authoritative.

The quarrel lasted two years.  However, Le Devin du village, composed by Rousseau, was performed at court in 1753 and attracted audiences until 1830.  It was last performed in 1830, the day Hector Berlioz premiered his Symphonie fantastique, a masterfully orchestrated symphony.

There has been a revival of Rousseau’s Devin du village and, particularly, of the aria “J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur,” sung by Colette, when she thinks Colin is no longer in love with her.  It seems to have entered the standard repertoire.  Interestingly, Rousseau is the first composer to have written both the music and the libretto of Le Devin du village.

A Summary of the Plot, from Wikipedia

“Colin and Colette love one another, yet they suspect each other of being unfaithful — in Colin’s case, with the lady of the manor, and in Colette’s with a courtier. They each seek the advice and support of the village soothsayer in order to reinforce their love. After a series of deceptions, Colin and Colette reconcile and are happily married.” (See Le Devin du village, Wikipedia.)

head-of-a-woman-from-behind
 
Head of a Woman from Behind, c. 1740
François Boucher
(Photo credit: Wikipaintings)
 

“J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur,”an aria

This is a mostly literal translation.  Creating poetry was not my purpose.  I concentrated on making the French text clear and divided it using numbers. Rousseau was an exceptionally gifted and accomplished individual, but most musicologists do not consider Le Devin du village a masterpiece.  However, as mentioned above, “J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur” is performed more and more frequently and, from a historical point of view, Le Devin du village is an important intermède.

 “J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur”

Colette soupirant et s’essuyant les yeux de son tablier.
(Colette, sighing and drying her eyes with her apron.)
 
I.
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur;  (I have lost all my happiness;) 
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur;  (I have lost my servant;)
  • Colin me délaisse ! (Colin is staying away from me!)
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur; (I have lost my servant;)
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur; (I have lost all my happiness;)
  • Colin me délaisse ! (Colin is staying away from me!)
  • Colin me délaisse ! 
2.
  • Hélas il a pu changer ! (Alas, he was able to change!)
  • Je voudrais n’y plus songer: (I would like no longer to think about it;)
  • Hélas, hélas, (Alas)
  • Hélas,
  • Hélas, il a pu changer ! (Alas, he was able to change!)
  • Je voudrais n’y plus songer: (I would like no longer to think about it;) 
  • Hélas, Hélas
  • J’y songe sans cesse ! (I am forever thinking about it!)

  • J’y songe sans cesse ! 
3.
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur;
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur;
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • J’ai perdu mon serviteur;
  • J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur;
  • Colin me délaisse !
  • Colin me délaisse ! 
4./5.
  • Il m’aimait autrefois, et ce fut mon malheur. (He loved me in the past, and that was my misfortune.)
  • Mais quelle est donc celle qu’il me préfère ? (But who is the one he prefers to me?)
  • Elle est donc bien charmante ! Imprudente Bergère, (She must be very charming!  Careless Shepherdess,)
  • Ne crains-tu point les maux que j’éprouve en ce jour? (Don’t you fear the pain [ills] I feel today?)
  • Colin m’a pu changer, tu peux avoir ton tour. (Colin was able to replace me, you may have your turn.)
  • Que me sert d’y rêver sans cesse ? (Of what use is it to me to think about it always?)
  • Rien ne peut guérir mon amour, (Nothing can cure my love,)
  • Et tout augmente ma tristesse.  (And everything increases my sadness.) 
J’ai perdu mon serviteur ;
J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur ;
Colin me délaisse !
Colin me délaisse !
 
6.
  • Je veux le haïr … je le dois … (I want to hate him … I must ...)
  • Peut-être il m’aime encore … pourquoi me fuir sans cesse ? (Perhaps he still loves me … why is he always avoiding [fleeing from] me?)
  • Il me cherchait tant autrefois ! (He so sought me in the past!)
  • Le Devin du canton fait ici sa demeure ; (The township‘s soothsayer makes his home here)
  • Il sait tout ; il saura le sort de mon amour. (He knowns everything; he will know the fate of my love.)
  • Je le vois, et je veux m‘éclaircir en ce jour. (I see him, and I want matters cleared up for me today.)

RELATED ARTICLE: my personal favourite post, because of Pergolesi, dead at 26.

  • A Portrait of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (michelinewalker.com)
_________________________
Source:  Opera Today (about the performance below)
Gabriela Bürgler (soprano)
Cantus Firmus Consort & Cantus Firmus Kammerchor
Andreas Reize (conductor)
artwork: unidentifield
http://www.cantusfirmus-ensemble.com/
 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: “J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur” 

Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_(painted_portrait)

 
© Micheline Walker
4 December 2013
WordPress
 
 
 
Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1753)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Cole Porter’s “Let’s do it,” sung by Ella Fitzgerald

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Songs

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Broadway musicals, Cole Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Let's do it, Song & Lyrics, The News, the US, WordPress

Let’s do it was composed by Cole Porter (9 June 1891 – 15 October 1964) and was included in his first Broadway musical Paris, in 1928.  It was sung by Irène Bordoni.

Let’s do it had a long career.  In 1960, “it was included in the film version of Cole Porter’s Can-Can” and, in 2011, it was sung in Woody Allen’s film Midnight in Paris.  The film won several Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Art Direction. (Wikipedia)

If the “it” of Let’s do it is an invitation to make love, as was suggested by a commentator, “Let’s do it” was “a pioneer pop song to declare openly ‘sex is fun’.” (Wiki2.org.)

The Jan. 31, 1949, cover of TIME
 Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN

About Cole Porter

Cole Porter was born to a wealthy family in Indiana.  He studied at Yale University and, as a student at Yale, Porter wrote 300 songs.  He then attended the Harvard Law School, and “at the suggestion of the dean of the law school,” he switched to the study of harmony and counterpoint. (Let’s Fall in Love, Wiki2.org.)

In 1937, he was injured, a leg injury, as a result of a horseback riding accident.   Several years later, in 1958, he grew ulcers on the injured leg, which had to be amputated.  Cole Porter died of kidney failure on 15 October 1964.  He was 73 and living in Santa Monica, California.

The News

English
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
 
French
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
____________________
 
Ella Fitzgerald
LET′S DO IT
 
Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
In Spain, the best upper sets do it
 
Lithuanians and Letts do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it
Not to mention the Fins
Folks in Siam do it – think of Siamese twins
 
Some Argentines, without means, do it
People say in Boston even beans do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
Romantic sponges, they say, do it
Oysters down in oyster bay do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
Cold Cape Cod clams, ‘gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish, do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
Electric eels I might add do it
Though it shocks em I know
Why ask if shad do it – Waiter bring me
“shad roe”
 
In shallow shoals English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
 
Source for lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/lwordthe/letsdoitletsfallinlove.htm
 
© Micheline Walker
18 August 2012
WordPress
  
45.408358 -71.934658

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