Sermisy was most likely born either in Picardy, Burgundy, or Île-de-France, based on the similarity of his surname to place names there. Sometime in his early life he may have studied with Josquin Desprez, if Pierre Ronsard is to be believed, but many musicologists consider the claim unreliable; at any rate he absorbed some of the older composer's musical ideas either early, or later, as he became acquainted with his music. Josquin was possibly at the French court between 1501 and about 1503, though this has never been definitely established, so a master-pupil relationship would have been possible then; Sermisy's whereabouts before 1508 are not known, but presence at the Royal Chapel was certainly possible.
In 1508 the young Sermisy was appointed as a singer in the Royal Chapel of Louis XII, where he was also a cleric. His birthdate is inferred from the date he joined the royal chapel; 18 was about the right age for such an appointment. In 1515 he went to Italy with Francis I, and in 1520 he was part of the musical festivities arranged by Francis I and Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, directed by Jean Mouton, where he was almost certainly a singer. He may have been a composer of some of the music there as well. In 1532 he also participated in the similar meeting between the kings at Boulogne, for which he wrote a ceremonial motet.
For a while in the early 1520s Sermisy was a canon at Notre-Dame-de-la-Rotonde in Rouen, but he left there in 1524 to take a similar position in Amiens. By 1532 he was music director of the Royal Chapel, still under Francis I, who reigned until 1547. At this post he was expected to teach and care for the boys of the choir, as well as find talented singers to recruit. In 1533, in addition to his post at the Royal Chapel, he became a canon at the Sainte-Chapelle, which would have required him to live in Paris. He acquired a large house there, large enough to shelter refugees from the church in St Quentin when the Spanish sacked their city in 1559. In 1554 he also was given a prebend at Ste Catherine in Troyes. Few biographical details are available about his last years, but he seems to have been active as a composer up to the end of his life based on publication dates of works. He was buried in the Sainte-Chapelle.
Je ne menge point de porc
Claudin de Sermisy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Le porc a condition telle que je vous vois dire,
S'il a mangé cent étrons, il ne s'en fera que rire.
Il les tourne, il les vire, il leur rit et puis les mord.
Je ne mange point de porc.
Le porc s'en allait jouant tout au long d'une rivière.
Il vit un étron flottant.
Disant en cette manière: "Etron flottant en rivière, rend toi ou tu es mort".
Je ne mange point de porc.
The lyrics of Claudin de Sermisy's song "Je ne menge point de porc" can be translated to "I do not eat pork." The song speaks of the singer's refusal to eat pork due to the way it is conditioned. The lyrics suggest that even if the pig has eaten a hundred excrements, it would still only laugh at them, turn them around, bite them, and not be affected by them. The second verse describes a scene where the pig is playing by the river and sees an excrement floating. Instead of being repulsed by it, the pig sees it as a feast and proceeds to eat it, threatening the excrement to surrender or be killed.
The song's lyrics can be interpreted as a commentary on the quality of the pork during the time it was written. It was common for pigs to be fed scraps and excrements, which resulted in unhealthy and unsanitary meat. The song showcases the singer's disgust towards pork, which made it popular among peasants who were more likely to be exposed to unhealthy livestock.
Line by Line Meaning
Je ne mange point de porc.
I do not eat pork.
Le porc a condition telle que je vous vois dire,
The pig is in such a state that I can tell you,
S'il a mangé cent étrons, il ne s'en fera que rire.
If it ate a hundred feces, it would only laugh at them.
Il les tourne, il les vire, il leur rit et puis les mord.
It turns them, it twists them, it laughs at them and then bites them.
Le porc s'en allait jouant tout au long d'une rivière.
The pig was playing along the river.
Il vit un étron flottant.
It saw a floating feces.
Il lui prit à faire chère,
It decided to indulge a bit,
Disant en cette manière: "Etron flottant en rivière, rend toi ou tu es mort".
Saying in this way: "Floating feces in the river, surrender or you will die".
Je ne mange point de porc.
I do not eat pork.
Contributed by Jacob C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bryce Greene-Forgue
Love this song, the lyrics make it all the better xD
frenchiecocorico1
L'inconvénient c'est que Sermisy était originaire de l'Ile de France (Sermaize dans l'Oise) et parlait donc une langue d'oil. L'inconvénient aussi c'est que "Porc" rime avec "mort"; il se prononce donc bien "por" et non "pork". Comme quoi on peut être spécialiste de Scott Ross et avoir parfois tord..
hamp
magnifigue! :D
andré rasemont
Moi je mange du porc, je suis Catholique pratiquant, et écoute la musique de Claudin de Sermisy, notre culture occidentale, pour combien de temps encore? J'ai 80 bougies au compteur, j'aurai le temps de faire mes valises avant la casse... Bravo pour les interprètes de cette charmante chanson et les autres.
proulxmontpellier
On prononce toujours "pork" dans tout le midi, tout comme on dit un "cat" pour un chat.
frenchiecocorico1
C'est vous qui faites des généralisations. Les consonnes finales se sont prononcées ou non selon les régions et les époques. Le français du Québec dérive des patois de l'ouest de la France (Vendée, Anjou,..) qui n'ont rien de commun avec ceux de l'ile de France et du nord. Dans le cas présent, la rime de "porc" étant "mort" cela démontre qu'à l'époque de Sermisy en Ile de france "Porc" se prononcait "por" et "mort" de même "mor" alors qu'à l'époque suivante les choses c'étaient inversées.
fransgreg
Beautiful but with some "synthetic" feeling ... Is there any effect processing ? Maybe it's to perfect !
MLFANTZZ
Voilá une possible liaison - en italien, il y a la parole "stronzo" qu´ apelle à ... estron ? En portugais, "troço". Trés interessant... Mais je voulait feliciter les chanteurs - formidable, parfait. Merci pour presenter. Salues du Brésil.
frenchiecocorico1
Very good musical rendition. Although, it remains some pronunciation impediments due to foreign language habits (italian) which is not "historically correct" compared to what was northern french pronunciation in the 16° century. It is evident that a german person like dirk1606 is unqualified to judge of it.. "mangé" instead of "manGE", resounding of the vowels "inn", "onn", "ann" instead of northern french nasal pronunciation "on", "in", "an"; "porc" pronounced "pork" instead of "por" etc
Anpomo
Qui sont les gens de CMPL qui se tapent les chansons de chorale sur YouTube?