Plaisir d'amour
"Plaisir d'amour" (literally "The 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 J.P.E. 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 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. It has been arranged and performed in various pop music settings.
Lyrics
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment. |
The pleasure of love lasts only a moment |
Recordings
Notable classical singers who have recorded Martini's original song include Rosa Ponselle, Victoria de los Ángeles, Tito Schipa, Fritz Wunderlich, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Janet Baker, Inessa Galante, Yvonne Kenny and many others.
Notable interpretations of modern arrangements of the song include those of Karrin Allyson, Joan Baez, Brigitte Bardot, Vicki Brown, Charlotte Church, Marianne Faithfull, Nana Mouskouri and The Seekers;
One of the more unusual recordings is by Paul Robeson. Notable appearances in films include Irene Dunne in Love Affair; Montgomery Clift played the music on the piano and sang the song as well in The Heiress; the song's music is featured in the opening of the 1955 movie We're No Angels; Joely Richardson, as Marie Antoinette, sings it in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace; "Plaisir d'amour" is sung by a children's choir in "The Breaking Point", an episode of HBO's 2001 World War II television miniseries Band of Brothers; the 1987 movie La Famiglia by Ettore Scola; the tune is heard repeatedly in the 1977 film March or Die. The melody was used for several songs with new lyrics, including "Can't Help Falling in Love", with Elvis Presley.
- Yvonne Printemps in 1931
- Rina Ketty in 1939
- Tino Rossi in 1955
- Joan Baez in 1961
- Marianne Faithfull in 1965
- Nana Mouskouri in 1971 (on Fontana album: A Place in my Heart)
- Pierrot Lunaire (band) in 1976
- Franco Battiato in 1991 on Come un cammello in una grondaia (it)
- Karrin Allyson in 1999
- Marie Denise Pelletier in 2000
- Emmylou Harris in 2003 on Stumble into Grace
- Brigitte Bardot
- Helmut Lotti
- Mireille Mathieu
- Ivan Rebroff
- Eddy Mitchell
- Judith Durham
- Mary Hopkin
- Nick Drake unused recording for Pink Moon in 1972. Later included as hidden track in "Treasury".
References
- ↑ Vojislav Mate Jovanović "La Guzla" de Prosper Mérimée: étude d'histoire romantique 1910 Page 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, .."
- ↑ hberlioz.com
External links
- Plaisir D'Amour (A Classical French Love Song), Thomas Keyes, 1 May 2005, Useless-knowledge.com
- Plaisir d' amour, 242 versions by 139 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 (French)