"Verbe égal au Très-Haut" (Jean Racine / Gabriel Faure connection)
ProO...@aol.com
title shown above?
My choir's library has the Hal H Hopson version of the famous Faure work
"Cantique . . . " which has the "how lovely are they dwellings . . . " text
set to it.
Any (correct/truthful) information would be very helpful.
Dale G Rider, MSM, CAGO
independence, Missouri
jenn...@mindspring.com
This is a translation by Harold Heiberg from a 4 part version
of the Cantique. It is copyright 1952 by Broude Brothers, New York
The English "translation" is written in under the French words.
As you can see it is not a literal translation, but it fits the
rhythm well enough if your choir can't sing French. Please
forgive the punctuation but I can't be bothered with commas
and my computer won't do French accents. :-)
Jenny
Verbe egal au Tres-Haut,
O Redeemer divine,
Notre unique esperance,
Our sole hope of salvation,
Jour eternel
Eternal Light
de la terre et des nuit,
of the earth and the sky,
Nous rompons le silence,
We sing in adoration,
Divin Sauveur
O Savior turn
jete sur nous les yeux,
on thy loving eye,
Divin Sauveur jette sur nous lesyeux.
O Savior turn on us thy loving eye.
Reponds sur nous
Send down on us
le feu de ta grace puissante,
the fire of Thy grace all consuming,
que tout l'enfer,
whose wondrous night,
que tout l'enfer fuie au son de to voix,
whose wondrous night dispersed the pow'rs of Hell,
Dissipe le sommeil
And rouse our slumb'ring souls
d'une ame languissante,
with radiance all illum'ning,
qui la
that they
conduit a l'oubli de tes lois
may waken Thy mercy to tell
qui la
that they
conduit a l'oubli de tes lois!
may waken Thy mercy to tell!
O Christ sois favorable a ce peuple fidele
O Christ bestow Thy blessing on us, we implore Thee,
pour te benir maintenant rassemble
who here are gathered on penitent knee
Recois les chants qu'il offre a ta gloire immortelle
Accept the hymns we chant to Thine everlasting glory
et de tes dons
and these Thy gifts
qu'il retourne comble,
we return unto Thee,
Et de tes dons qu'il retourne comble!
And these Thy gifts we return unto Thee!
Et de tes dons
And these Thy gifts
qu'il retourne comble!
we return to Thee!
Michael Hartney
>
> Can anyone provide a useful, if not literal, translations into English of the
> title shown above?
>
> My choir's library has the Hal H Hopson version of the famous Faure work
> "Cantique . . . " which has the "how lovely are they dwellings . . . " text
> set to it.
>
> Any (correct/truthful) information would be very helpful.
>
> Dale G Rider, MSM, CAGO
> independence, Missouri
You ask for a "useful" translation. It's not clear if you just want a
translation to help the singers and audience understand the piece, or if
you're looking for a metrical translation to be sung. Here, anyway, is a
literal translation.
Verbe égal au Très-Haut, O Word, equal to the Almighty,
notre unique espérance, our only hope,
jour éternel eternal Day
de la terre et des cieux, of the earth and heavens,
De la paisible nuit, of the peaceful night
nous rompons le silence we break the silence,
divin Sauveur, divine Saviour,
jette sur nous les yeux. look down upon us.
Répands sur nous Pour out on us
le feu de ta grâce puissante, the fire of thy powerful grace,
Que tout l'enfer May all hell
fuie au son de ta voix, flee at the sound of thy voice,
Dissipe le sommeil Banish sleep
d'une âme languissante from a languishing soul
qui la conduit which [sleep] leads it [the soul]
à l'oubli de tes lois. to forget your laws.
Ô Christ, sois favorable O Christ, be gracious
à ce peuple fidèle, to this faithful people,
pour le bénir and bless it
maintenant rassemblé. as it now gathered.
Reçois les chants qu'il offre Receive the songs it offers
à ta gloire immortelle, to thine immortal glory,
et de tes dons and with thy gifts
qu'il retourne comblé. may it return filled.
If you're looking for a metrical translation to be sung, it's fairly
easy to fashion one out of this literal translation. In fact, some of
the lines already have the correct metre: for instance, lines 5, 6 and 7
of the last stanza. But it's worth noting that the original Latin hymn
was intended to be sung by monks just after rising (possibly in the
dark) for the first chapel service of the day; hence the references to
Christ as "eternal day", to breaking the silence of the night, to
banishing sleep, and to being "gathered". If you're looking for a
singable translation, the references to the time of day might make an
exact translation unsuitable for singing at any other time of day.
Michael Hartney
Ottawa, Ont. Canada
hart...@magma.ca
Kevin Sutton
jenn...@mindspring.com wrote:
> >My choir's library has the Hal H Hopson version of the famous Faure work
> >"Cantique . . . " which has the "how lovely are they dwellings . . . " text
> >set to it.
You definitely want to avoid that one. My dislike for HHH is rather personal so I
won't head into that treacherous territory.
>
>
> This is a translation by Harold Heiberg from a 4 part version
> of the Cantique. It is copyright 1952 by Broude Brothers, New York
> The English "translation" is written in under the French words.
> As you can see it is not a literal translation, but it fits the
> rhythm well enough if your choir can't sing French. Please
> forgive the punctuation but I can't be bothered with commas
> and my computer won't do French accents. :-)
>
> Jenny
Mr. Heiberg's translation should be excellent. I have studied with Professor
Heiberg and know him to be an outstanding linguist and extremely
knowledgeable.Kevin Sutton
Andan...@aol.com
extremely valuable addition to the repertoire. Of course in a college or
community chorus I would opt for the French and print a good translation, but
Hopson's new text underlay has made this wonderful music accessible to many
who could not otherwise use it. The traditional English translations simply
wouldn't work in many churches. So pragmatically, I say "thanks, Hal" at
least for this one piece.
Dan Wagner
Minnesota ACDA R & S Chair for Church Music