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Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux :
Commencement d’amours est savoureux
Et le moyen plain de paine et tristesse,
Et la fin est d’avoir plaisant maistresse,
Mais au saillir sont les pas dangereux.
Servant d’Amours, me suis trouvé eureux
L’une des foiz, et l’autre malleureux,
Ung jour sentant confort, l’autre destresse.
Prenez sur moi vostre exemple amoureux :
Commencement d’amours est savoureux
Et le moyen plain de paine et tristesse.
Pour ung plaisir cent pansers ennuieux,
Pour ung soulas cent dangiers perilleux,
Pour ung accueil cent regars par rudesse :
S’Amours sert doncques de telz mets a largesse,
Et les loiaux fait les plus doloureux,
Take from me your amorous example:
the beginning of love is savory
and the middle full of pain and sorrow,
and the end is to have a pleasing mistress,
but on the way out the steps are dangerous.
The servant of Love, I found myself happy
one moment and unhappy the next,
one day feeling comfort, the next distress.
Take from me your amorous example:
the beginning of love is savory
and the middle full of pain and sorrow.
For every pleasure a hundred painful thoughts,
for every solace a hundred perilous dangers,
for every welcome a hundred harsh glances:
since Love serves liberally from such dishes
and makes the loyal the most woeful,
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Tant fuz gentement resjouy,
[Quand ce mot] par Amours j’ouy,
Me tenir au vueil davant tous
De vostre gentil cuer tresdoulx,
Qu’oncques puis sur moy ne jouy
Le mien tresdouloureux courroux.
Si haultement avez party
Celuy qui de vous n’a party
Son cuer de vous amer tousjours,
Par cy tresgracieux party
L’avez plaisanment departy
Du mal qu’il eust mis au dessoubs.
Mon leal cuer de dueil nercy,
Taint en desesperé soucy,
A loing de toute joye escoux,
M’avez come aforcé rescoux
De mort dont sans nulle mercy
Actendoye les dangereux coupx.
[Partially missing verse completed by Fabrice Fitch]
So much was I graciously delighted,
when I heard this word at Love’s command,
to submit myself before all to the will
of your noble and most sweet heart,
that nevermore can my most painful affliction
triumph over me.
So highly have you honored
him whose heart has never left off
loving you always,
by this most gracious gift
you have gently freed him
from the woe he had borne concealed.
My loyal heart—blackened with grief,
stained with desperate care,
far removed from any joy—
you have rescued as if by force
from Death, from whom without any mercy
I awaited fatal blows.
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Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus,
Car dorenavant je conclus
De garder en tout temps mon droit.
Chascun se garde en son endroit,
Car bien peu me chault du surplus.
Je ne vueil pas estre forcluz
D’acorder ou faire reffuz,
Mais ce que voulez orendroit
Ung aultre l’a, n’en querés plus,
Car dorenavant je conclus
De garder en tout temps mon droit.
Jamais en ce propos ne fuz
Que mon vouloir fust si confuz
D’entendre a tout ce qu’il voudroit.
De ce faire on me reprendroit,
Congnoissant que seroit abuz.
Another has it, seek it no more,
for henceforth I resolve
to protect my rights at all times.
Let each look out for himself,
for precious little do I care about the rest.
I do not wish my choice foreclosed
to agree or to refuse,
but as for what you want at present,
another has it, seek it no more,
for henceforth I resolve
to protect my rights at all times.
Never in this matter was
my will so thwarted
in its intentions toward everything it would like.
I would be reproached for doing this,
recognizing that it would be wrong.
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4. |
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Baisiés moy dont fort, ma maistresse,
Acollés moy, mon vray refuge,
Puis que je vous fais mon seul juge
Pour pugnir mon cuer, si vous blesse.
[Ja nulle ochoison de tristesse
Ne vous donnay, si Dieu me juge.]
Baisiés moy dont fort, ma maistresse,
Acollés moy, mon vray refuge.
[Si vous supplye en grant destresse
Moy garantir de tel deluge,
Car nul ne trouve qui n’adjuge
Qu’aultrement me ferez rudesse.]
[Text completed by Fabrice Fitch]
Kiss me ardently, then, my mistress,
embrace me, my true refuge,
for I make you my sole judge,
who may punish my heart, if I offend you.
No cause of grief have I ever
given you, may God be my judge.
Kiss me ardently, then, my mistress,
embrace me, my true refuge.
Thus, in great distress, I beg you
to protect me from any such calamity,
for none shall be found who will not judge
that otherwise you do me wrong.
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5. |
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Pour prison ne pour maladie,
Ne pour chose que l’on me die
Ne vous peut mon cuer oubliier,
Et sy ne puis ailleurs penser,
Tant ay de vous veoir envie.
M’amour, ma princesse et amie,
Vous seule me tenez en vie,
Et ne peult mon desir cesser
Pour prison ne pour maladie,
Ne pour chose que on me die,
Ne vous peut mon cuer oubliier.
Ne doubtés ja que vous oublie,
Qu’onques nulle tant asouvie
Ne fust qui me peult faire amer
Que vous, belle et douce sans per,
Dont Amours point ne me deslie.
Not for prison, nor for illness,
nor for anything one might tell me
can my heart forget you,
and thus I cannot think of anything else,
so much do I long to see you.
My love, my princess and friend,
you alone keep me alive,
and my desire cannot cease
for prison, nor for illness,
nor for anything one might tell me
can my heart forget you.
Never suspect that I forget you,
for never did anything come to pass
that could make me love anyone
but you, fair lady, and sweet without peer,
from whom Love shall never unbind me.
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La despourveue et la bannye
De cil qui me donne ma vie,
Seullement par ung faulx raport :
Ha, Fortune, n’as tu pas tort
D’avoir sans cause ainsi pugnie ?
Le pouvre cueur ne pensoit mye
D’estre de luy en telle haye,
Puis qu’i luy plaist, elle est d’acort,
La despourveue et la bannye
De cil qui me donne ma vie,
Seulement par ung faulx raport.
El ne vieult plus de compagnie :
Fortune l’a trop esbahye
D’avoir ousté tout son confort.
Plus ne desire que la mort
S’il fault qu’elle soit faicte oublie.
Destitute and banished
from him who gives me life,
solely on account of a false tale:
ah, Fortune, do you not err
to have punished me thus without cause?
My poor heart never imagined
it would be so hated by him,
but since it pleases him, she accepts it,
destitute and banished
from him who gives me life,
solely on account of a false tale.
She wants no more company:
Fortune has too much appalled her
by taking away her every comfort.
She desires nothing more than death,
if she must be be forgotten.
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7. |
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L’autre d’antan, l’autrier passa
Et en passant me transperça
D’ung regart forgié a Millan,
Qui m’a mis en l’arriere ban,
Tant malvais brassin me brassa.
L’autre d’antan, l’autrier passa.
Par tel façon me fricassa
Que de ses gaiges me cassa,
Mais, par Dieu, elle fist son dan.
L’autre d’antan, l’autrier passa,
Et en passant me transperça
D’ung regart forgié a Millan.
Puis apres nostre amour cessa,
Car onques puis qu’elle danssa,
L’autre d’antan, l’autre d’antan,
Je n’eu ne bon jour, ne bon an,
Tant de mal en moy amassa.
L’autre d’antan, l’autrier passa.
The other year, the other day, she passed by
And in passing pierced me through
With a glance forged in Milan
That knocked me into the rear ranks,
So noxious a brew she brewed for me.
The other year, the other day, she passed by.
She made such a fricassee out of me
That she struck me from her payroll;
But, by God, she did her damage.
The other year, the other day, she passed by
And in passing pierced me through
With a glance forged in Milan.
And then our love ended,
For, ever since she did her dance,
The other year, the other year,
I’ve had neither good day nor good year,
So much ill has piled up on me.
The other year, the other day, she passed by.
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8. |
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Ma bouche rit et ma pensée pleure,
Mon oeil s’esjoye et mon cueur mauldit l’eure
Qu’il eut le bien que sa sancté deschace
Et le plaisir que la mort me pourchace
Sans resconfort qui m’aide ne sequeure.
Ha cueur pervers, faulsaire et mansongier,
Dictez comment avez osé songier
Que de faulser ce que m’avez promis.
Puis qu’en ce point vous vous voulez venger,
Pensez bien tost de ma vie abreger :
Vivre ne puis ou point ou m’avez mis.
Vostre pitié vieult doncques que je meure,
Mays rigeur vieult que vivant je demeure ;
Ainsi meurs vif et en vivant trespasse.
Pour celer le mal qui point ne se passe
Et pour couvrir le dueil ou je labeure,
My mouth laughs and my thoughts weep,
my eye rejoices and my heart curses the hour
when it enjoyed the good that destroys its health
and the pleasure that brings me death,
deprived of comfort to aid or succor me.
Ah, heart! perverse, false, and lying,
say how you dared to dream
of breaking the promise you made to me.
Since you wish to avenge yourself to this degree,
think of soon cutting short my life:
I cannot live in the plight in which you’ve placed me.
Your pity, then, wants me to die,
but your harshness wants me to survive,
thus I die alive, and living pass away.
To hide the woe which has no end
and to conceal the grief in which I struggle,
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9. |
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Presque transi, ung peu mains qu’estre mort,
Vivant en dueil sans avoir nul confort,
Veoir l’en me peut es liens de Fortune
Qui sans cesser pis qu’autre me fortune
Et me combat de plus fort en plus fort.
Helas! je suis contre mon vueil en vie,
Et si n’est riens dont tant j’aye d’envie
Que de povoir veoir ma fin bien prouchaine.
Morir ne puis et tousjours m’y convie,
Et m’est bien tart que du tout je desvie
A celle fin que soie hors de paine.
Il m’est advis que la mort me tient tort,
Quant autrement elle ne fait son effort
De moy vengier de ma vie importune,
Car je languis sans avoir joye aucune
Par mon malheur qui me devoure et mort.
On the verge of death, just less than dead,
living in sorrow without any comfort:
one sees me in the bonds of Fortune,
who without cease treats me worse than any other
and fights me more and more fiercely.
Alas! against my will I remain alive,
and there is nothing I long for so much
as to see my end draw near.
Die I cannot, and yet always I seek to,
for it is well past time that I turn away from everything
towards that end where I shall be free of pain.
It seems to me that Death does me wrong
when otherwise she makes no effort
to relieve me of my wearisome life,
for I languish without any joy whatsoever
because of the unhappiness that devours and gnaws at me.
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Les desloyaulx ont la saison
Et des bons nesun ne tient conte,
Mays bon droit de trop se mesconte
De souffrir si grant desraison.
Je ne scay a quelle achoison
Fortune si hault les surmonte.
Les desloyaulx ont la saison
Et des bons nesun ne tient conte.
Pour parler de prince ou maison
Ce me seroit reprouche et honte ;
Pour ce m’en teys, mays fin de compte
Tout va sans rime et sans rayson.
The disloyal are in season
and no one cares for the good,
but Legitimate Right makes a terrible mistake
by permitting such great unreason.
I do not know for what occasion
Fortune raises them up so high.
The disloyal are in season
and no one takes account of the good.
For me to speak of a prince or noble house
would earn reproach and shame:
therefore I keep silent, but in the end
everything happens without rhyme or reason.
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11. |
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Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte :
Ne doy je bien vouloir morir ?
Dueil a voulu mon cueur saisir
Qui de tous biens me desconforte.
Ma douleur est plus que trop forte,
Car sans avoir aucun plaisir
Je n’ay dueil que je ne suis morte :
Ne doy je bien vouloir morir ?
Je n’ay riens qui plus me conforte,
D’ueil ne voy plus que desplaisir.
Mort est le plus de mon desir,
Car quelque chose que on m’aporte,
I have no grief but that I am not dead:
should I not wish to die?
Grief has seized my heart
and deprives me of all things good.
My sorrow is more than too strong,
for having no pleasure whatsoever
I have no grief but that I am not dead:
should I not wish to die?
I have nothing that comforts me any longer,
my eye sees nothing but chagrin.
Death is my greatest desire,
for whatever happens to me,
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13. |
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Il ne m’en chault plus de nul ame
Fors de vous qui mon cueur enflame
A vous bien loyaument amer,
Sans jamais vous habandonner,
A tousjours estre vostre dame.
Qu’on m’en loue ne qu’on m’en blame,
Quoy qu’on en disoit, homme ou femme,
Ilz en ont tous beau grumeller.
Il ne m’en chault plus de nul ame
Fors de vous qui mon cueur enflame
A vous bien loyaument amer.
Car pour tout m’en vous tiens et clame
Que tant je vueil et que tant j’ame
Plus que nul sans riens excepter,
S’ils en devoyent tous crever
Et deusse perdre du corps l’ame.
I care no more for any soul
but you, who inflame my heart
to love you most loyally,
never to abandon you,
forever to be your lady.
Whether I am praised or blamed for it,
whatever anyone has said, man or woman,
they can all grumble as much as they like.
I care no more for any soul
but you, who inflame my heart
to love you most loyally.
For I shall cleave to you forever and proclaim
how much I desire and how much I love
more than any other without exception,
even if they all burst from hearing it
and I should lose the soul from my body.
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¿Ques mi vida preguntays?
Non vos la quiero negar:
Bien amar y lamentar
Es la vida que me days.
¿Quien vos pudiera servir
Tambien como he servido?
¿Mi trabajado bivir
Quien pudiera aver sofrido?
¿Para que me preguntays
La pena que he de passar?
Pues amar y lamentar
Es la vida que me days.
What is my life, you ask?
I will not deny it to you:
loving well and lamenting
is the life you give me.
Who could serve you
as well as I have served?
My troubled life—
who could have endured it?
Why do you ask me
the pain I have to endure?
For loving and lamenting
is the life you give me.
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¿Ques mi vida preguntays?
Non vos la quiero negar:
Bien amar y lamentar
Es la vida que me days.
¿Quien vos pudiera servir
Tambien como he servido?
¿Mi trabajado bivir
Quien pudiera aver sofrido?
¿Para que me preguntays
La pena que he de passar?
Pues amar y lamentar
Es la vida que me days.
What is my life, you ask?
I will not deny it to you:
loving well and lamenting
is the life you give me.
Who could serve you
as well as I have served?
My troubled life—
who could have endured it?
Why do you ask me
the pain I have to endure?
For loving and lamenting
is the life you give me.
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This CD is the companion to Blue Heron’s 2019 release, Johannes Ockeghem: Complete Songs, Volume 1. The CD booklet contains complete texts and translations, and notes by music historian Sean Gallagher and Blue Heron’s artistic director, Scott Metcalfe.
