Plaisir d'amour
"Plaisir d'amour" ([plɛ.ziʁ da.muʁ], "Pleasure of love") is a classical French love song written in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816); it took its text from a poem by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755–1794), which appears in his novel Célestine.
The song was greatly successful in Martini's version. For example, a young woman, Madame Julie Charles, sang it to the poet Alphonse de Lamartine during his cure at Aix-les-Bains in 1816, and the poet was to recall it 30 years later.[1]
Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra (H134) in 1859.[2] Louis van Waefelghem arranged the tune for viola d'amore or viola and piano in the 1880s.[citation needed] It has been arranged and performed in various pop music settings.
Lyrics[edit]
Original poem by de Florian[edit]
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment, |
The pleasure of love lasts only a moment, |
Popular lyrics[edit]
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.
chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.
The joys of love are but a moment long
The pain of love endures the whole life long
Your eyes kissed mine, I saw the love in them shine
You brought me heaven right then when your eyes kissed mine.
My love loves me, and all thy wonders I see
The rainbow shines in my window, my love loves me
And now he's gone like a dream that fades into dawn
But the words stay locked in my heartstrings, my love loves me
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.
chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.[3]
Recordings[edit]
- The Seekers[4]
- Rina Ketty in 1939 (with extended lyrics)[5]
- Joan Baez[6]
- Mary Hopkin in Welsh as "Pleserau Serch"[7]
- Nick Drake[8]
- Gabriel Yacoub on disc 9 Chansons d'Amore of the multi-volume Anthologie de la chanson française recorded in 1992–1994[citation needed]
- Judy Collins on her 2000 album Classic Folk[9]
- Paul Robeson[10]
- Mireille Mathieu on her album Les grandes chansons françaises (1985)[11]
- Nana Mouskouri and Charles Aznavour on the album Nana & Friends – Rendez-vous (2012)[12]
- Marianne Faithfull on her debut-album Marianne Faithfull (1965)
- Jacky Terrasson on his 2000 album A Paris...
- Charlotte Church Live in Jerusalem 2001
In popular culture[edit]
The melodies for Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961) and the 20th century Christian hymn "My God Loves Me" are based on "Plaisir d'amour".[13][14]
Mado Robin's version of the song plays in Djibril Diop Mambéty's 1973 film Touki Bouki when Nori and Anta go to visit a rich patron's estate in order to convince him to fund their trip to Paris. It is repeated a few times more throughout the remainder of the film.[15][importance of example(s)?]
The tune is heavily featured as a theme to the 1939 feature film "Love Affair" starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne, with Dunne also performing the song within her role as a singer [16][17]
The song was sung by Montgomery Clift in the 1949 movie The Heiress.[18]
A church choir performs this song for exhausted members of Easy Company in the episode entitled “The Breaking Point” in HBO’s acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers (miniseries).[19]
References[edit]
- ^ Vojislav Mate Jovanović "La Guzla" de Prosper Mérimée: étude d'histoire romantique 1910 p. 136 "Les paroles de Florian furent mises en musique par Martini, l'auteur de Plaisir d'Amour; cette traduction obtint un grand succès en France. En 1816, Mm° Charles la chantait à Lamartine, et le poète du Lac, trente ans plus tard, déclarait dans une page de Raphaël qu'il ne pouvait entendre sans pleurer les vers de cette touchante ballade : Quand les moutons sont dans la bergerie, .."
- ^ Berlioz: Musical and Literary Works (list of reference editions)
- ^ Baez, Joan (1961). "Plaisir d'amour". Joan Baez, Volume 2 (audio recording). New York: Vanguard Records.
- ^ The Seekers All Bound For Morningtown (Their EMI Recordings 1964-1968) "Plaisir d'amour" Opens full album on Spotify, Plaisir d'amour is #10 Last Accessed 2018-09-25
- ^ "Plaisir d'amour", Martini – Jean Davon – T. Henriotti (alias for Gustave Kahn)
- ^ "Joan Baez – "Plaisir d'amour"". Discogs. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "Mary Hopkin - Pleserau Serch - Plaisir D'Amour" – via www.discogs.com.
- ^ "Nick Drake – "Plaisir d'amour"". Discogs. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ Classic Folk at AllMusic
- ^ Paul Robeson: The Complete EMI Sessions (1928–1939) "Plaisir d'amour" (2008 remastered version) Video on YouTube
- ^ Tracklist, Les grandes chansons françaises (retrieved 2018-12-2)
- ^ Nana & Friends – Rendez-vous at Discogs
- ^ "My God Loves Me", godsongs.net
- ^ "Can't Help Falling in Love", songfacts.com
- ^ "Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)" by Charles Matthews, 21 September 2016, charlesmatthews.blogspot.com
- ^ "Love Affair (1939) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Love Affair (1939) - "Plaisir D'Amour". YouTube.
- ^ "The Heiress (1949) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ^ ""Band of Brothers" the Breaking Point (TV Episode 2001) - IMDb". IMDb.
External links[edit]
- "Plaisir d'amour": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Plaisir d' amour, hundreds of renditions by hundreds of artists, MusicMe.com
- Plaisir d'amour on YouTube, sung by Rina Ketty (1939)
- "Plaisir d'amour" ou petite histoire d'une romance de plus de 200 ans, history, sheet music and MIDI file, by Denis Havard de la Montagne (in French)
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