Corps feminin par vertu de Nature
Three-voice ballade by Solage
Sources
Chantilly: Bibliothèque du Musèe Condè 564, fol. 23v (3/1).
Editions
1. French Secular Music of the Late Fourteenth Century, edited by Willi Apel, Cambridge/Massachusetts: Medieval Academy of America, 1950, no. 32.
2. French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century, music edited by Willi Apel, texts
edited by Samuel N. Rosenberg, Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1970. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae 53/I, p. 181.
3. French Secular Music. Manuscript Chantilly, Musèe Condè 564, First Part, edited by Gordon K. Greene,
Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1981. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century XVIII, p. 66.
Literature
1. GÜNTHER, Ursula. Der musikalische Stilwandel der französischen Liedkunst in der zweiten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts, dargestelt an Virelais, Balladen und Rondeax von Machaut., Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hamburg: 1957, pp. 225,
245-249.
2. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Der Gebrauch des tempus perfectum diminutum in der Handschrift Chantilly 1047', Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, XVII (1960), p. 290.
3. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Datierbare Balladen des späten 14.
Jahrhunderts. Part 1', Musica Disciplina, XV (1961), pp. 58-61.
4. GÜNTHER, Ursula. 'Die Musiker des Herzogs von Berry', Musica Disciplina, XVII (1963), pp. 87-88.
Text
Corps feminin par vertu de Nature
a droit devis traitis et compasé
tant noblement, certes, que vo figure,
humble sans per, passeflour de beauté
et tant est doulz et plaisant
l'amoureux ray de vostrë oeil
riant,
lequel me fait par un doulz souvenir
joieux et gay en ses las maintenir.
Nul ne sçaroit prisier l'envoiseure
et la dolçour que j'ay en vous truvé
la joye aussi qui doune nourreture
a cuer d'amant de loyauté
paré.
Rien, certes, ne me pot tant
onquez plaire come vo corps joyant,
ysnell et gent, ne rien tant ne desir,
ne ja ne quier jamais autre cherir.
Et c'est raison que de gens de fayture,
digne d'ounour, vous soit le pris
douné.
Au gré d'Amours, qui de volenté pure
m'a enrichi du tresor desiré
Ou tout bien est surendant,
veuillez me donc retenir pour amant.
Raison le vuelt quar pour leyal servir
suelt hon souvent bon guardon acquerir
Translation
The feminine body, by its very nature,
truly wondrously made and fashioned with artistry;
as nobly, certainly, as your person,
humble without peer, surpasses the flower in beauty.
And so sweet and pleasing
is the loving
gleam in your laughing eye
which keeps me, by a sweet memory,
happy and joyful in its bonds.
None would know how to appreciate the happiness
and the sweetness that I have found in you;
the joy also which gives sustenance
to the
lover's heart, adorned with loyalty.
Nothing, certainly, could ever
please me as much as your joyful,
lively and pleasing body, nor do I desire anything so much,
nor, indeed, do I ever seek to caress another.
And it is right that, among
people of culture,
worthy of honour, the prize should be given to you.
At Love's pleasure - who, with pure intentions
has enriched me with the longed-for treasure,
in whom all good is overflowing -
please deign to let me be your
lover.
Reason wills it, since from serving loyally,
one often obtains a fine recompense.
Text revision and translation © Robyn Smith