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Gustave Nadaud Quotes

Gustave Nadaud was a French songwriter and chansonnier.

Nadaud's first career was as an accountant; he took up songwriting as a hobby at age 28. His friends encouraged him, and he submitted his work for publication in L'Illustration and Le Figaro. This genre of songwriting followed on from writers of the previous generation such as Pierre-Jean de Béranger.

Many of his songs were political; his Pandore and Soldat du Marsala were both forbidden under the Second French Empire. Others were like simple folk songs, such as Carcassonne, which is the lament of a peasant who was never able to visit Carcassonne, a city on the Aude River near the Pyrenees, famous for its medieval fortress.

Although Nadaud wrote over 300 songs, he died in poverty. A college in Wattrelos, in northern France, is named after him. Wikipedia  

✵ 20. February 1820 – 28. April 1893
Gustave Nadaud photo
Gustave Nadaud: 5   quotes 0   likes

Famous Gustave Nadaud Quotes

“They tell me every day is there
Not more nor less than Sunday gay;
In shining robes and garments fair
The people walk upon their way.
One gazes there on castle walls
As grand as those of Babylon,
A bishop and two generals!
What joy to be in Carcassonne!
Ah! might I but see Carcassonne!”

Gustave Nadaud

Stanza 3.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)

“Yet could I these two days have spent,
While still the autumn sweetly shone,
Ah, me! I might have died content
When I had looked on Carcassonne.”

Gustave Nadaud

Stanza 2.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)

“Translated:
I’m growing old, I’m sixty years;
I’ve labored all my life in vain.
In all that time of hopes and fears,
I’ve failed my dearest wish to gain.
I see full well that here below
Bliss unalloyed there is for none
My prayer would else fulfilment know —
Never have I seen Carcassonne!”

Gustave Nadaud

Je me fais vieux, j’ai soixante ans,
J’ai travaillé toute ma vie,
Sans avoir, durant tout ce temps.
Pu satisfaire mon envie.
Je vois bien qu’il n’est ici-bas
De bonheur complet pour personne.
Mon vœu ne s’accomplira pas:
Je n’ai jamais vu Carcassonne!
Stanza 1.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)

“Thy pardon, Father, I beseech,
In this my prayer if I offend;
One something sees beyond his reach
From childhood to his journey’s end.
My wife, our little boy Aignan,
Have travelled even to Narbonne;
My grandchild has seen Perpignan;
And I — have not seen Carcassonne.”

Gustave Nadaud

Stanza 5.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)

“The vicar’s right; he says that we
Are ever wayward, weak and blind;
He tells us in his homily
Ambition ruins all mankind;”

Gustave Nadaud

Stanza 4.
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)

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