Here once again are some notes on the texts for our next concert. The main intended readership is members of NCS; I hope to clarify meanings and allusions and so forth.
In this case two of our pieces are masses, and their familiar texts require no comment here. The other is Poulenc’s setting of four prayers of St Francis of Assisi.
It’s probably safe to assume in cases of doubt that everything in here is wrong. (If you identify any specific errors, I am always happy to be corrected.) Translations are, without exception, written to shed light on the meaning of the original text and not to be singable or poetic English. If you want translations for any other purpose, don’t use these!
So, here is some St Francis.
| Salut, Dame Sainte, | Hail, Holy Lady, |
| reine très sainte, | queen most holy, |
| Mère de Dieu, | Mother of God, |
| ô Marie qui êtes vierge perpétuellement, | O Mary for ever virgin, |
| élue par le très saint Père du Ciel, | chosen by the most holy Heavenly Father, |
| consacrée par Lui avec son très saint Fils bien aimé | consecrated by him with his most holy and beloved Son, |
| et l’Esprit Paraclet, | and the Spirit, the Advocate, |
| vous en qui fut et demeure | you in whom was and remains |
| toute plénitude de grâce | every fullness of grace |
| et tout bien! | and every blessing! |
| Salut, palais; | Hail, palace; |
| salut, tabernacle; | hail, tabernacle; |
| salut, maison; | hail, house; |
| salut, vêtement; | hail, garment; |
| salut, servante; | hail, servant; |
| salut, mère de Dieu! | hail, mother of God! |
| Et salut à vous toutes, | And hail to you all, |
| saintes vertus | holy virtues |
| qui par la grâce et l’illumination du Saint Esprit, | which by the grace and illumination of the Holy Spirit |
| êtes versées dans les cœurs des fidèles | have been poured into the hearts of the faithful |
| et, d’infidèles que nous sommes, | and, unfaithful as we are, |
| nous rendez fidèles à Dieu. | make us faithful to God. |
Really the main things that need pointing out here are that the second stanza is still addressed to the Virgin Mary, and that there’s an implicit “of God” at the end of each line (so Mary is the palace, the tabernacle, the house, the garment, the servant, and the mother, of God). Oh, and I think avec in the third line means “by means of” rather than “together with”.
vêtement can simply mean “garment” but can also mean something grander -- “vestment” or “robe”.
| Tout puissant, très saint, très haut et souverain Dieu; | All-powerful, most holy, most high and sovereign God; |
| souverain bien, bien universel, bien total; | sovereign Good, universal Good, total Good; |
| toi qui seul es bon; | you who alone are good; |
| puissions-nous te rendre toute louange, | enable us to give you all praise, |
| toute gloire, toute reconnaissance, | all glory, all gratitude, |
| tout honneur, toute bénédiction; | all honour, all blessing; |
| puissions-nous rapporter toujours à toi tous les biens. | enable us to return to you always every blessing. |
| Amen. | Amen. |
souverain ... total: the word bien repeated three times in this line can be noun or adverb, and the line could equally be read as meaning something more like “truly sovereign, truly universal, and truly all-in-all”. (But the nearest equivalent to this prayer that I was able to find in Italian doesn’t have that ambiguity.)
reconnaissance: means not only gratitude but acknowledgement or recognition, so I think there’s a suggestion here of giving God the praise he is due.
rapporter à toi: I think this can also be understood as “ascribe to you”, referring to blessings received rather than praises given.
| Seigneur, je vous en prie, | Lord, I ask of you |
| que la force brûlante et douce | that the burning and sweet force |
| de votre amour | of your love |
| absorbe mon âme | may absorb my soul |
| et la retire de tout ce qui est sous le ciel, | and draw it away from everything under heaven, |
| afin que je meure | so that I may die |
| par amour de votre amour, | for love of your love, |
| puisque vous avez daignée mourir | since you have deigned to die |
| par amour de mon amour. | for love of my love. |
douce: can mean “gentle” as well as “sweet”.
retirer: really signifies something more decisive than merely drawing away; “withdraw” or even “remove” might be closer.
je meure ... mourir: I think the poet’s dying here is metaphorical (“dying to sin”, as St Paul puts it, with a suggestion of the sort of “dying of love” that one finds in romantic or erotic poetry) -- but then there is something of a sting in the tail, for the parallel “dying for love of my love” that follows is a literal self-sacrificing death for the sake of a loved one.
| O mes très chers frères et mes enfants | O my dearest brothers and my children |
| bénis pour toute l’éternié, | blessed for all eternity, |
| écoutez-moi, écoutez la voix de votre Père: | listen to me, listen to the voice of your Father: |
| Nous avons promis de grandes choses, | We have made great promises, |
| on nous en a promis de plus grandes; | greater yet have been made to us; |
| gardons les unes et soupirons après les autres; | let us keep the former and yearn for the latter; |
| Le plaisir est court, la peine éternelle. | Pleasure is short, punishment eternal. |
| La souffrance est légère, la gloire infinie. | Suffering is light, glory infinite. |
| Beaucoup sont appelés, peu sont élus, | Many are called, few are chosen; |
| tous recevront ce qu’ils auront mérité. | all shall receive what they deserve. |
| Ainsi soit-il. | So be it. |
frères ... enfants: the Franciscan friars, of course, rather than literal brothers or children.
soupirons: literally “sigh”.
peine ... souffrance: it may seem contradictory to say first that suffering is eternal and then that it is trivial; of course the peine is punishment in hell and the souffrance is suffering here on earth. I think “souffrance” has also the sense of waiting for something one hasn’t yet received.
Beaucoup ... élus: a quotation from Matthew 22.
Ainsi soit-il: this is pretty much what “Amen” means.