Nous voyons que les hommes (Jacques Arcadelt)
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- Editor: Alessandro Simonetto (submitted 2009-05-17). Score information: A4, 2 pages, 33 kB Copyright: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
- Edition notes: Look for the PDF file under the section "Renaissance > [SECULAR MUSIC]"
General Information
Title: Nous voyons que les hommes
Composer: Jacques Arcadelt
Number of voices: 3vv Voicing: SAT
Genre: Secular, Chanson
Language: French
Instruments: A cappella
Published: 1554, in Tiers livre di Le Roy & Ballard
Description: This work was the basis for the Ave Maria by Dietsch commonly attributed to Arcadelt.
External websites:
Original text and translations
French text
Nous voyons que les hommes
font tous vertu d’aimer
et, sottes que nous sommes,
voulons l’amour blâmer.
Ce qui leur est louable
nous tourne à déshonneur,
faute inexcusable,
O dure loi d’honneur !
Nature, plus qu’eux sage,
nous en a un corps mis
plus propre à cet usage
et nous est moins permis.
English translation
by Mick Swithinbank
Men, plainly enough, all think it a feather in their cap if they make love. It is foolish of us women to speak ill of love:
what is seen as praiseworthy for them is dishonourable for us and an inexcusable fault; morality is harsh.
Nature has more sense than they do: it has given us a body better designed than men’s for amorous practices, yet to us they are more forbidden.