Veillee Rustique (MS2011-3223-040)

Veillee Rustique (MS2011-3223-040)

French language song text from VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3223-041 Alice Lacourse Danis Songbook. Pp. 35.

“Veillée rustique” (“Rustic Evening Party”). Versions of this traditional French song, most commonly known as “La destinée, la rose au bois,” have been in circulation in France since at least the 16th century. It has been widely collected in France and Quebec, as well as Belgium, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, and Switzerland.

This particular setting is virtually identical (including the title) to the setting published in abbé Charles-Émile Gadbois’s 1948 publication, Les 100 plus belles chansons (p. 32). In 1929, Montreal singer, songwriter, actor, concert impresario, and jack-of-all-trades Conrad Gauthier (1885-1964) recorded a setting of this song under the title “La destinée, la rose au bois” for the Victor label (issue # 263579). Gauthier was at various times a director of silent movies, a journalist, an accountant, and a municipal officer, but it was as a singer and actor that he made his name in Canada and the United States. In the 1920s, Gauthier was a pioneer in radio and in the recording of Quebec folk music, making 78s of more than 100 songs and monologues for the Victor and Columbia labels, often with Elzéar Hamel. He also was a concert impresario and lead vocalist at the immensely popular Veillées du bon vieux temps, a theatrical show featuring skits, songs, dances, and monologues evoking rural Quebec traditions, music, and dances. Gauthier founded the Veillées in 1921 and produced them until 1941 at the Monument national theatre in Montreal.
You can hear Gauthier’s rendition on the Library and Archives Canada website, The Virtual Gramophone: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/virtual-gramophone/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=1007634492

my father and mother had but me as their child; it’s not the business of girls to go visit boys, but rather they should keep the house swept; when the house is clean, the boys will visit, entering four by four, tapping their heels; when everyone’s assembled, the dancing will begin and courting will as well, as it’s always in season; and I will accompany everyone on my accordion; so that’s how it happens, at least in my region.

VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3223 Alice Lacourse Danis Songbook. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

Veillee Rustique

Veillée rustique

La destinée la rose au bois I, N-6

Le maître de l’école amoureux 713

Rustic Evening Party

Ma mere aussi ma mere n’avait que moi d’enfant

Ma mere aussi ma mere n’avait que moi d’enfant
N’avait que moi d’enfant la destine la rose aux bois
N’avaitent que moi d’enfants n’avaient que moi d’enfant
2. c’est pas l’affaire des filles d’aller voir les garcons
D’aller voir les garcons
3. mais c’est l’affair des filles de balier la maison
4. quand la maison est proper tous les garcons y vont
5. ils entrent quatre a quatre en frampant du talon
6. quand tout l’monde est en place. On frise un rigodon
7. et l’on parle d’amourette c’est toujours de saison
8. et moi je les acompagne sur mon acordeon
9. et c’est comm-ca que ca s’passe du moin dans notre canton