A Few Words from Paula

Hello all you great singers!! I can’t wait to see all of you again this year. I know we will make great music together. Try to learn as much as you can before the weekend. Get together in little groups and have a sing song! Try to listen to the YouTube recordings that I am sending or any other good ones that you find. I’m quoting Mark from last year “Speaking the text in rhythm counts as practice”. He is right, it helps a lot! I’m sure we will have lots of fun. See you soon! Paula

 Canada We will sing in unison:
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée, Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée Des plus brillants exploits.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
 Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Ave Maris Stella is a plainsong hymn (un “cantique”) to the Virgin Mary, from a group of hymns called Marian hymns; its origin is unknown but it can be dated back to at least the eighth century. It became very popular during the Middle Ages and was used by many composers as the basis of other compositions. The Latin hymn Ave Maris Stella was chosen as the Acadian national anthem at the 1884 second National Acadian Convention held at Miscouche, Prince Edward Island. It was proposed by Pascal Poirier and enthusiastically adopted by the assembly, most likely due to the high degree of devotion the Acadians have to the Virgin Mary, Patron Saint of the Acadians.

​Translation

1. Ave Maris Stella
Dei Mater alma.
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix coeli porta,
Felix coeli porta.

2. Sumens illud Ave,
Gabrielis ore.
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Haeve nomen,
Mutans Haeve nomen.

3. Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus.
Spiritui Sancto,
Tribus honor unus,
Tribus honor unus.

Hail, O Star of the ocean,
God’s own Mother blest
Ever sinless Virgin,
Gate of heavn’ly rest,
Gate of heavn’ly rest.

Taking that sweet Ave,
Which from Gabriel came,
Peace confirm within us,
Changing Eve’s name,
Changing Eve’s name.

Praise to God the Father,
Honor to the Son,
In the Holy Spirit,
Be the glory one,
​ Be the glory one.

​Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from “Nabucco” by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Nabucco based on the Biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar, was Verdi’s first successful opera (1842). The chorus Va, pensiero, sung by the Jews in their Babylonian captivity lamenting the loss of their homeland, became for the Italian people a symbol of their own longing for political freedom. 

Very good interpretation of Va pensiero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F4G5H_ TTvU 
​
​Translation

Va, pensiero, sull’ ali dorate,
Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
​Ove olezzano tepide e molli
L’aure dolci del suolo natal!

Del Giordano le rive saluta,
Di Sionne le torri atterrate.
Oh mia patria si bella e perduta!
Oh membranza si cara e fatal

Arpa d’or dei fatidici vati,
Perchè muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
Ci favella del tempo che fu!

O simile di Solima ai fati
Traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
O t’ispiri il Signore un concento
Che ne infonda al patire virtù, 

Hasten thoughts on golden wings
Hasten and rest on the densely wooded hills,
​Where warm and fragrant and soft
Are the gentle breezes of our native land!

The banks of the Jordan we greet
And the towers of Zion.
O, my homeland, so beautiful and lost!
O memories, so dear and yet so deadly!

Golden harp of our prophets,
Why do you hang silently on the willow?
Rekindle the memories of our hearts,
And speak of the times gone by!

Or, like the fateful Solomon,
Draw a lament of raw sound;
Or permit the Lord to inspire us
To endure our suffering!

​À la claire fontaine

​la claire fontaine m’en allant promener
J’ai trouvé l’eau si belle que je m’y suis baigné.

Ref : Il y’a longtemps que je t’aime,
jamais je ne t’oublierai.

**Please notice it is not Lui but Il y’a longtemps que je t’aime

J’ai perdu ma maîtresse sans l’avoir mérité,
our un bouquet de rose que je lui refusai.

Je voudrais que la rose fût encore au rosier
Et moi et ma maîtresse dans les mêmes amités.

​As I was walking by the clear fountain,
I found the water so lovely I had to bathe.

Ref: I’ve loved you for so long,
I will never forget you.




I lost my love without deserving it,
Because of a rosebud I refused to give her.

I wish the rose were still on the bush
And my sweetheart loved me still.