C’est une valse amoureuse [first line] (AU1998-1075-011)
Dublin Core
Title
C’est une valse amoureuse [first line] (AU1998-1075-011)
Subject
Description
Excerpt from interview of Alberta Gagné (TC1998-1075-011) 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.
“C’est une valse amoureuse” (“It is a Waltz of Love”) presents a bilingual setting of the chorus of the hit song "Three O’Clock in the Morning," composed by Argentinean pianist and composer Julián Robledo as a piano solo and first published in New Orleans 1919. In 1921, Dorothy Terris wrote a set of lyrics. The song created a sensation when it was performed in New York in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1921. In 1922, New York City Band leader Paul Whiteman released a recording on the Victor label in 1922, resulting in sales of over 3.5 million copies of the record, and over 1 million copies of the sheet music.
A mere few months later, Montreal actor Jean Nel (1892-1942) translated the song in order to be able to sing it and sell it as sheet music to French-speaking theatergoers, a common practice in the Montreal theater district which helped actors augment their meager salaries. Montreal Lyric tenor Hector Pellerin (1887-1953) recorded Nel’s setting on the Victor label (issue # 263134, side A) in 1922. Not to be outdone, indefatigable Montreal songwriter, composer, pianist, and recording studio owner/producer Roméo Beaudry (1882-1932) quickly created a second French-language version, “Trois heures du matin,” which Montreal baritone J.-Hervey Germain recorded in 1922 on the Starr/Gennett label (issue #12052, side A).
The Montreal Victor studio also put out a recording of the original English-language song that year, featuring tenor Harold Harvey.
Alberta Gagné sings the chorus from Jean Nel’s translation, followed by the chorus from the English-language original song.
“C’est une valse amoureuse” (“It is a Waltz of Love”) presents a bilingual setting of the chorus of the hit song "Three O’Clock in the Morning," composed by Argentinean pianist and composer Julián Robledo as a piano solo and first published in New Orleans 1919. In 1921, Dorothy Terris wrote a set of lyrics. The song created a sensation when it was performed in New York in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1921. In 1922, New York City Band leader Paul Whiteman released a recording on the Victor label in 1922, resulting in sales of over 3.5 million copies of the record, and over 1 million copies of the sheet music.
A mere few months later, Montreal actor Jean Nel (1892-1942) translated the song in order to be able to sing it and sell it as sheet music to French-speaking theatergoers, a common practice in the Montreal theater district which helped actors augment their meager salaries. Montreal Lyric tenor Hector Pellerin (1887-1953) recorded Nel’s setting on the Victor label (issue # 263134, side A) in 1922. Not to be outdone, indefatigable Montreal songwriter, composer, pianist, and recording studio owner/producer Roméo Beaudry (1882-1932) quickly created a second French-language version, “Trois heures du matin,” which Montreal baritone J.-Hervey Germain recorded in 1922 on the Starr/Gennett label (issue #12052, side A).
The Montreal Victor studio also put out a recording of the original English-language song that year, featuring tenor Harold Harvey.
Alberta Gagné sings the chorus from Jean Nel’s translation, followed by the chorus from the English-language original song.
Abstract
It’s a waltz of love, which thrills. In its swaying music, all reason is lost. Its languid drift leads to surrender; it’s a waltz of love, a tender song.
Source
VFC1998-0007 Martha Pellerin Collection. TC1998-1075 interview with Alberta Gagné. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.
Date
Rights
Copyright (c) Vermont Folklife Center
Relation
Full Interview: vfc1998-0005_tc1998-1075
Language
fra
Identifier
vfc1998-0007_tc1998-1075-001a-011
Song Item Type Metadata
Supplied Title
C'est une valse amoureuse (first line)
Standard Title
“La valse amoureuse”
First Line
C'est une valse amoureuse
Transcription
[BEGIN SINGING]
C’est une valse amoureuse,
Qui donne le frisson.
Dans sa musique berceuse
S’endort votre raison.
Son envolée langoureuse
Évoque une pâmoison.
C’est une valse amoureuse,
Une tendre chanson.
It's three o'clock in the morning,
We’ve danced the whole night through.
And daylight will soon be dawning,
Just one more waltz with you.
That music so entrancing,
Seems to be made for us two,
I just could keep right on dancing,
Forever dear, with you
Translation
strophic; two eight-line refrains.
Interviewer
Location
Original Format
sound cassette (analog)
Files
Citation
“C’est une valse amoureuse [first line] (AU1998-1075-011),” Vermont Folklife Center Digital Collections, accessed October 17, 2024, https://vtfolklifearchive.org/collections/items/show/358.
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