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About "Plaisir d'amour "

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Title Composer Description View or Listen Date Posted
Plaisir d'amour Martini Voice and piano
Classical French song about how love's pleasure lasts but a moment, while love's pain lasts a whole life long. 

mus  pdf-score  mid  mp3  xml  about  Parts (pdf): Voice

 

2014-09-28
Plaisir d'amour Martini Voice and guitar
Arranged for voice and guitar by Tom Potter. 
pdf-score  mid  mp3  about  Parts (pdfs): Voice  Guitar
 2014-09-28
Plaisir d'amour Martini Guitar quartet
Arranged for 4 guitars by Tom Potter. 
pdf-score  mid  mp3  about  Parts (pdfs): Gtr1  Gtr2  Gtr3  Gtr4 
 2014-09-28
Plaisir d'amour Martini Viola part, substituting for voice
Solo part, substituting for voice.

 pdf 
 2014-09-28
Plaisir d'amour Martini Cello part (optional)
An accompanying part by Tom Potter.  Can be added to any of the above ensembles.
 pdf
 		2014-09-28

Title: "Plaisir d'amour" ("Love's Pleasure")

Composer: Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816)

Lyricist: Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794)

History

The poem "Plaisir d'amour" appeared in the novel Célestine by the French author Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, published in Paris in 1784. See it here: Google Books, p. 123.

Soon after, the poem was set to music by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini.  Martini's name sounds French or Italian, but he was German.  His name at baptism was Johann Paul Aegidius Schwarzendorf.

The song was at first known by the title "Romance du chevrier" ("The goatherd's romance"), but later was usually named "Plaisir d'amour" after its opening words.  The song has remained popular for more than 200 years.  It's easy to see why.  Martini's lovely, haunting melody perfectly suits the elegant language and sad sentiment of Florian's poem.  Once heard, "Plaisir d'amour" can never be forgotten.

Text

 

Plaisif d'amour
Words by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian

Love's Pleasure
Translated by Tom Potter
1

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

 

Love's pleasure lasts a moment, then it is gone,
Love's pain and sorrow endure through a whole life long.
2

J'ai tout quitté pour l'ingrate Sylvie,
Elle me quitte et prend un autre amant.

 

I gave up ev'rything for faithless Sylvia,
She's gone, and gives another her sweet embrace.
3

Plaisir mour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

 

Love's pleasure lasts a moment, then it is gone,
Love's pain and sorrow endure through a whole life long.
4

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 water shall run sweetly down
To join yon brook that flows alongside the meadow,
I'll surely love thee," Sylvia promised to me;
Yet flows the stream; but she has changed even so.
5

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Love's pleasure lasts a moment, then it is gone,
Love's pain and sorrow endure through a whole life long.
 

 

Translation donated to the public domain, Tom Potter, 2014

 

About the arrangement

I use a single Finale music file to produce all the various downloads (see above for links to the downloads).

The arrangement for 4 guitars of "Plaisir d'amour" is appropriate for sight-reading by a guitar club or guitar class.  Guitar 1, Guitar 2, and Guitar3 take turns on the melody, while Guitar 4 plays the base line.  The source for the arrangement is the public domain score for voice and piano in IMSLP.ORG (see below).

The guitar part for the Voice and Guitar version is playable but not easy to sight-read.

Ways of combining the parts for reading or performance:

There are many possible ensembles, the principal ones being:

  1. Voice and Piano
  2. Voice and Guitar
  3. Guitar quartet Guitar 1
    Guitar 2
    Guitar 3
    Guitar 4
  4. Viola and piano
  5. Viola and guitar
  6. Cello part is optional and may be added to any of the above ensembles
  7. Violin or other melody instrument may substitute for Voice
  8. Harpsichord may substitute for Piano
  9. Any part not mentioned in the above ensembles may be added to it.  This will create redundancy.  For example, you could add Voice to the guitar quartet ensemble and it will sound ok, but the voice line will always be doubled by one of the guitars.

Guitar chords:

I've added guitar chord symbols to the Guitar and Guitar 4 parts, to facilitate creating alternate
accompaniments.

References:

De la Montagne, Denis Havard, "Plaisir d'amour, ou petite histoire d'un romance de plus de 200 ans" (in French), webpage in the Musica et Memoria website.

Martini, "Plaisir d'amour", sheet music for voice and piano, in IMSLP.ORG.

—Tom Potter

   April 25, 2014

 

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