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Songs

Quant j'ai ouy le tabourin (1908) L99

Part of a series or song cycle:

Trois Chansons de Charles d'Orléans (L99)

Quant j'ai ouy le tabourin

Charles d'Orléans

Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin
Sonner pour s’en aller au may,
En mon lit n’en ay fait affray
Ne levé mon chef du coissin;
En disant: il est trop matin,
Ung peu je me rendormiray,
Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin
Sonner pour s’en aller au may.
Jeunes gens partent leur butin;
De Nonchaloir m’acointeray,
A lui je m’abutineray;
Trouvé l’ay plus prochain voisin,
Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin!

When I heard the drum

English Translation © Richard Stokes

When I heard the drum
Summoning us to go maying,
I neither leapt from my bed
Nor lifted my head from the pillow.
And I said: it is too early.
I shall sleep a little longer:
When I heard the drum
Summoning us to go maying.
Let the young divide their spoils,
I shall be happy to remain indifferent
And share my spoils with him –
For he was my nearest neighbour,
When I heard the drum beat.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)

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Composer

Claude Debussy

(Achille) Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Poet

Charles d'Orléans

Charles of Orléans was Duke of Orléans from 1407 and prominent medieval poet.


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