Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême [first line] (AU1998-1074-013)

Dublin Core

Title

Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême [first line] (AU1998-1074-013)

Description

Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1074-013) by Martha Pellerin. Part of a project (VFC1998-0007) on Franco-American song in New England funded by the Vermont Folklife Center and undertaken by Pellerin. Interview is one in a series of six conducted between 1995-01-09 and 1995-12-06 as an effort to document the French language song repertoire of Gagné.

“Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême “(“Joyful children in the country of Bohemia “) is a sentimental song in which the singer reminisces about his youthful which may have been published as early as 1858, although the earliest known publication dates to 1865 (Paris: Le Bailly), with words by Henri de LaRoche and music by François de Lafaye. French author Léon Cladel (1834-1892) quoted this song in his book of essays Héros & Patins (Paris: E. Dentu, 1885). In his essay “Rara Avis,” Cladel reminisces about singing it with fellow students and artists in cafes of Paris’s Latin Quarters, in the presence of its author and composer, in 1858, when, he reports, the song was first published, The song appears to have enjoyed some popularity in both France and Belgium, but to date no printings or recordings are known, so how it came to be in Alberta Gagné’s repertory remains a mystery.

Mrs. Gagné learned this song from one of her brothers. She remembered writing down the words so that she could learn it. Her version is slightly garbled and has compressed LaRoche’s third and fourth verses into a single verse.

Abstract

Joyful children of the country of Bohemia, liberty was my sweetest possession; here is the time when one lives as one wishes; I have resolved to live among you. Their gaiety holds no fear for me; it conquers only the weakest hearts; I want my place in the sun which enchants me; the woods are green, the lilacs are in bloom. I know well that one loves to excess free will and an independent heart, but often impiety, irony wished to betray my overwhelmed heart; but this morning I saw the swallows qui in springtime celebrate sweetness; I am no eagle, but I feel my wings; the woods are green, the lilacs are in bloom; one autumn day in my adolescence, allowing my heart and soul to wither, to joyous song, lived but indifference, to sigh here, it was to once die; no, no, in vain, for this cry of distress; my forehead blushes, but it sheds tears; May sunshine, give me back my youth, the woods are green, the lilacs are in flower.

Source

VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1074 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

Date

1995-11-10

Rights

Copyright (c) Vermont Folklife Center

Relation

Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1074

Language

fra

Identifier

vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1074-001b-003

Song Item Type Metadata

Supplied Title

Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême (first line)

Standard Title

Rêves de jeunesse

First Line

Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême

Transcription

(BEGIN SINGING)

 

Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême,

La liberté fut mon bien le plus doux.

Voici le temps où l'on vit où l'on aime,

J'ai résolu de vivre parmi vous.

 

(Hesitates)

 

AG: Mais ce mat...non, non.

 

(Resumes singing)

 

Leur gaieté n'est rien qui m'épouvante,

Mais elle abat que les plus faibles cœurs.

Je veux ma place au soleil qui m'enchante

Les bois sont verts, les lilas sont en fleurs

Je veux ma place au soleil qui m'enchante,

Les bois sont verts, les lilas sont en fleurs. [repeat last two lines]

 

Je sais fort bien qu'on aime à la folie,

De libre essor, le cœur indépendant,

Mais bien des fois l'impiété ironie,

Voulut trahir mon cœur éblouissant.

Mais ce matin j'ai vu les hirondelles,

Qui du printemps célèbrent les douceurs.

Je n’suis pas aigle, mais je me sens des ailes,

Les bois sont verts, les lilas sont en fleurs. [repeat last two lines]

 

Un jour d'automne de mon adolescence,

Laissant mon cœur et mon âme se flétrir

Au chant joyeux vit que l’indifférence,

Soupirer ici, c'était une fois mourir.

Non, non, en vain, pour ce cri de détresse,

Mon front rougit mais il verse des pleurs.

Soleil de mai, rendez-moi ma jeunesse,

Les bois sont verts, les lilas sont en fleurs. [repeat last two lines]

 


 

(END SINGING)

 

Translation

strophic, eight-line verses, three verses

Interviewer

Pellerin, Martha

Original Format

sound cassette (analog)

Files

vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1074-001b_003.mp3

Citation

“Joyeux enfants au pays de Bohême [first line] (AU1998-1074-013),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed October 17, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/343.

Position: 703 (333 views)