Songs

Quant Theseus / Ne quier (Ballade: from 'Le Voir Dit')

Guillaume de Machaut

Voice 1 (Thomas):

Quant Theseus, Hercules, et Jason

Cerchierent tout et terre et mer parfonde

Pour acroistre leur pris et leur renon

Et pour veoir bien tout l’estat dou monde,

Moult furent digne d’onnour.

Mais quant je voy de biauté l’umble flour,

Assevis sui de tout si que par m’ame

Je voy assez, puis que je voy ma dame.

Veoir ne quier la doree toison,

Ne les Yndes, ne de Rouges Mer onde,

Ne aus infernaus penre guerre ou tenson

Pour eslongier le regart de la blonde

Dont me vient joie et baudour,

Et dous penser—si tieng pour le millour

Que a tout conter et bien penser a drame.

Je voy assés, puis que je voy ma dame.

Voice 2 (The Response of Guillaume de Machaut):

Ne quier veoir la biauté d’Absalon

Ne de Ulixés le sens et la faconde,

Ne esprouver la force de Sanson,

Ne regarder que Dalida le tonde.

Ne cure n’ay par nul tour

Des yex Argus ne de joie gringnour,

Car pour plaisence et sans ayde d’ame,

Je voy assez, puis que je voy ma dame.

De l’ymage que fist Pymalion

Elle n’avoit pareille ne seconde;

Mais la bele qui m’a en sa prison

Cent mille fois est plus bele et plus monde.

C’est uns drois fluns de douçour

Qui puet et scet garir toute dolour.

Dont cils a tort qui de dire me blame.

Je voy assez, puis que je voy ma dame.

Si ne me chaut dou sens de Salemon,

Ne que Phebus entermine ou responde,

Ne que Venus s’en mesle, ne Mennon,

Que Jupiter fist muer en aronde.

Car je di: quant je l’aour,

Aim, et desir, ser, et criem, et honour,

Et que s’onneur seur toute rien m’enflame,

Je voy assez, puis que je voy ma dame.

When Theseus, Hercules, and Jason / I do not wish to see the beauty of Absalom

R. Barton Palmer

Voice 1 (Thomas):

When Theseus, Hercules, and Jason

Traversed the whole earth and the ocean deep

To enlarge their valour and renown

And see the whole compass of the world,

They were quite worthy of honour.

But when I see beauty’s humble flower,

I’m so satisfied that by my soul

Enough I see, seeing my lady.

I don’t want the golden fleece,

Or the Indies, or the Red Sea’s waves,

Or carry battle, fight to the infernal regions

And thus distance the look of the fair-haired woman

Who gives me joy and boldness,

Sweet thoughts too—instead I think it better

To consider and count all else a trifle.

Enough I see, seeing my lady.

Voice 2 (The Response of Guillaume de Machaut):

I’m not eager to look upon Absalom’s beauty

Or the cunning and swagger of Ulysses,

Or to test the might of Samson,

Or to watch Delilah cut his hair.

I give no thought at all

To the eyes of Argus or greater joy,

Since for pleasure and with no one’s help,

Enough I see, seeing my lady.

The statue Pygmalion crafted

Had no equal, nothing like it;

But that beauty who holds me prisoner

Is one hundred times more beautiful and pure.

She’s a true fountain of sweetness

Who can and is able to heal all pain.

So that man’s wrong who blames my saying so.

Enough I see, seeing my lady.

So I care nothing for Solomon’s wisdom,

Nor that Phebus makes an end or responds,

Nor that Venus interferes, or Menon,

Whom Jupiter changed into a swallow.

Rather this I say: since I adore,

Love, and desire her, serve, and respect, and honour her

Above all others, and she inflames me with love,

Enough I see, seeing my lady.

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Composer

Guillaume de Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut is presumed to have been born around the year 1300; the first surviving documentary evidence from 1330 lists him as a ‘clerk’ in the household of John of Bohemia and suggests that he had been in service since 1323. Machaut was instated as a canon of Reims Cathedral in 1337 and established a residence in the city in 1340. During his later years he enjoyed the patronage of a number of French nobles, including the wife and son of Jean II. In his sixties he enjoyed a close relationship with a young noblewoman, a relationship he chronicled (and embellished) in a long narrative poem, Le Voir Dit, which included many of their lyrics and letters. From these we learn something of his view of his own music, and of the process by which he preserved his work for posterity. His poetry also supplies a limited degree of biographical information; he suffered from gout and was blind in one eye, yet he was evidently enthusiastic about falconry, horseback riding and the French countryside. Machaut died in Reims in 1377.

© Daniel Leech-Wilkinson

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