Description
This is my French translation of the Thackeray poem The sorrows of Werther – a satirical résumé of Goethe’s Briefroman Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
The file on the Musica Neo page contains various transpositions and chord names following both the English and French methods.
The sound sample there is my own performance.
Poem by W M Thackeray 1811-1863 (French translation follows)
WERTHER had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And for all the wealth of Indies
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
So he sigh’d and pin’d and ogled,
And his passion boil’d and bubbled
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And no more was by it troubled.
Charlotte, having seen his body
Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a wellconducted person,
Went on cutting bread and butter.
French translation by David W Solomons
Werther aimait la Charlotte
d’un amour pas à deviner
Savez-vous comme il fit la rencontre
Elle fut en train de tartiner
Mais elle était mariée,
Werther était bien moral
Et il n’avait même pour tout argent,
nul désir de lui faire mal
Il languissait et la passion
Bouillait d’un grand feu ému
Et le sot se brûla la cervelle
Et ne s’en occupa plus
Quand elle vit son beau cadavre
elle ne fit pas laide mine
Mais en femme bien élevée
fit à nouveau ses tartines!