Sur le Pont d'Avignon
"Sur le pont d'Avignon" (pronounced [syʁ lə pɔ̃ daviɲɔ̃]) ("On the Bridge of Avignon") is a French song about a dance performed on the Pont d'Avignon (officially Pont Saint-Bénézet) that dates back to the 15th century. The dance actually took place under the bridge and not on the bridge (sous le Pont d'Avignon, not sur).[1][2]
Dance description
[edit]- The dance starts out with everyone in pairs, dancing around each other.
- When the chorus is done dancers must stop in front of their partners, and traditionally the male will bow on the first part then tip his hat on the second.
- When the chorus begins again the dancers repeat step one.
- When this stops, so does the dance. The girl curtsies to one side, then the other.
- For the first part, dancers repeat step one, and if they have an audience, turn on their heels and bow to them.
Lyrics
[edit]
Chorus
Sur le pont d'Avignon
l'on y danse, l'on y danse.
Sur le pont d'Avignon
l'on y danse tous en rond.
1. Les beaux messieurs font comme ça,
et puis encore comme ça.
Chorus
2. Les belles dames font comme ça, ... Chorus
3. Les filles font comme ça, ... Chorus
4. Les musiciens font comme ça, ... Chorus
On the bridge of Avignon
they are dancing there, they are dancing there.
On the bridge of Avignon
all dance in circles there.
The fine gentlemen go like this (bow)
and then again like this.
Chorus
The beautiful ladies go like this (curtsy) ...
The young girls go like this (salute) ...
The musicians go like this (they all bow to women) ...
Any number of verses may be invented, depicting other professions or various characters.
Melody
[edit]![% Arrangment by Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin [[:fr:s:Sur le pont d’Avignon (Weckerlin 1870)]]
% who uses slightly different words for the verse
\header { tagline = ##f }
\layout { indent = 0
\context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" }
\context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" }
}
global = { \key g \major \time 2/4 }
chorvoice = \relative c' { \global \set midiInstrument = "flute"
\autoBeamOff \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4=100
g'8^>\f g g4 | a8^> a a4 | b8. c16 d8 g, | fis8. g16 a8 d, |
g8^> g g4 | a8^> a a4 | b8. c16 d8 g, | a fis g r8 \bar "||"
}
versevoice = \relative c' { \set midiInstrument = "flute"
g'8. g16 g8 g | \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4=50 a4^> g8 r8 |
\tempo 4=100 g8. g16 g8 g | \tempo 4=50 a4^> g8 r8 \bar "||" \tempo 4=100
}
chorlyrics = \lyricmode {
Sur le pont d’A -- vi -- gnon,
l’on y dan -- se, l’on y dan -- se.
Sur le pont d’A -- vi -- gnon,
l’on y dan -- se tous en rond. }
verselyrics = \lyricmode {
Les mes -- sieurs font comme ça,
les da -- mes font comme ça.
}
chorright = \relative c'' { \global \set midiInstrument = "vibraphone" \mark \markup "Allegretto"
<g d b>8\pp <g d b> <g d b> r8 | <a fis d> <a fis d> <a fis d> r8 |
<< { b8. c16 d8 g, | fis8. g16 a8 d, } \\ { d4~ d8 s8 | d4~ d8 s8 } >> |
<g d b>8 <g d b> <g d b> r8 | <a fis d> <a fis d> <a fis d> r8 |
<< { b8. c16 d8 g, } \\ { d4~ d8 s8 } >> | <a' e c>8 <fis d c> <g d b>^"Fine" r8 \bar "||"
}
verseright = \relative c' { \set midiInstrument = "vibraphone"
<g' d>8. <g d>16 <g d>8 <g d> | <a e>4^> <g d>8 r8 |
<g bes,>8. <g bes,>16 <g bes,>8 <g bes,> | <a c,>4^>^"D.C. al fine" <g bes,>8 r8 \bar "||"
}
chorleft = \relative c { \global \set midiInstrument = "vibraphone"
g8\p d' g r8 | d, a' d r8 | g8. a16 b8 r8 | << { a8. b16 c8 } \\ { d,4~ d8 } >> r8 |
e,8 b' e r8 | d, a' d r8 | g8. a16 b8 r8 | c, d g r8 \bar "||"
}
verseleft = \relative c { \set midiInstrument = "vibraphone"
b'8. b16 b8 b8 | c4-> (b8) r8 |
<ees, g>8. <ees g>16 <ees g>8 <ees g> | <ees fis!>4-> (<ees g>8) r8 \bar "||"
}
voicepart = \new Staff
{ \clef treble \chorvoice \versevoice }
\addlyrics { \chorlyrics \verselyrics }
pianopart = \new ChoirStaff %{ PianoStaff %} <<
\new Staff
{ \clef treble \chorright \verseright }
\addlyrics { \chorlyrics \verselyrics }
\new Staff
{ \clef bass \chorleft \verseleft }
>>
\score {
<<
% \voicepart % activating this line will create a separate vocal staff above.
\pianopart
>>
\layout { }
}
\score {
{
<<
{ \chorvoice \versevoice } \\
{ \chorright \verseright } \\
{ \chorleft \verseleft }
>>
<< \chorvoice \\ \chorright \\ \chorleft >>
}
\midi {
\context { \Score midiChannelMapping = #'instrument }
\context { \Staff \remove "Staff_performer" }
\context { \Voice \consists "Staff_performer" }
}
}](http://up.wiki.x.io/score/e/v/evguf8lj47mfso7b7bta724ui4dsaoz/evguf8lj.png)
Source[3]
In popular culture
[edit]In 1951, the National Film Board of Canada produced the 5-minute animated film Sur le pont d'Avignon, in which extravagantly dressed marionettes pantomime the song.[4]
The French fantasy comic book Hypocrite: comment decoder l'etircopyh by Jean-Claude Forest (pub. Dargaud 1973) centres around the destruction of the Pont de Avignon, here imagined as a giant petrified sabre-toothed tiger spanning the river. During the scenes set on the bridge itself, the characters sing this song, led by the ghostly Scottish piper Major Grumble.[citation needed]
In the 1978 American miniseries Holocaust, some of the children in the Warsaw Ghetto sing the song in class with Berta Weiss.[citation needed]
In 1990, The Simpsons' episode "The Crepes of Wrath" (season 1), Bart Simpson sings the song on the way to his accommodation during his student exchange program.[citation needed]
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Chain of Command" (1992) uses this song as a means for Captain Picard, an appreciator of philosophy and poetry born in France, to resist the effects of torture.[citation needed]
In 1992, a cartoon titled The Real Story of... Sur le pont d'Avignon was produced by CINAR and France Animation, featuring the song and a ghost story revolving around a clockmaker and an enchanted organ.[5][6]
In the German-dubbed version of The Lion King (1994), Zazu sings this song to Scar after being forced by the latter to sing something more cheerful than "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen", instead of, as in the English original, "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts".[citation needed]
In the "769" (2002) episode of Lexx, President Priest sings and plays the song on an accordion to attempt to impress a group of French diplomats.[citation needed]
The song was played throughout the episode "Library" (2020) of Bluey.[citation needed]
In 2024, Haitian-American rapper and record producer Mach-Hommy released a song of the same name and chorus, with the addition of "...(Reparation #1)" in the title.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ^ "Sous le Pont d'Avignon". www.lookandlearn.com. 25 May 2011 [22 March 1980]. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
- ^ "Sur, or is it Sous, le Pont d'Avignon". perfectlyprovence.co. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
- ^ Sur le pont d’Avignon (Weckerlin 1870) – via French Wikisource, uses slightly different words for the 1st verse.
- ^ "Sur le pont d'Avignon by Jean-Paul Ladouceur and Wolf Koenig". National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
- ^ Prawdziwy Koniec Balu Na Moście w Avignonie / The Real Story of Sur le Pont d'Avignon: part 1 (in Polish). Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Shows for Youngsters and Their Parents Too : A behind-the-scenes look at favorite fairy tales and fables on HBO". Los Angeles Times. 9 January 1994.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Sur le pont d'Avignon at Wikimedia Commons- "On the Bridge of Avignon": Scores at the International Music Score Library Project, arrangement by Leopold Godowsky
- "Sur le pont d'Avignon", ingeb.org
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