Grand Dieu, nous te bénissons (Great God, we bless you)

This seems to play the role in the French Christian's heart that "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" does in the British. We sing it fairly often. I thought I'd give you the words and explain how you put the second verse to the music. There's several versions of the hymn, by the way... The metre is 9,10,9,10,8,8

Grand Dieu, nous te bénissons,
Nous célébrons tes louanges !
Éternel, nous t'exaltons,
De concert avec les anges,
Et prosternés devant toi,
Nous t'adorons, ô grand Roi.

Les saints et les bienheureux,
Les trônes et les puissances,
Toutes les vertus des cieux,
Disent tes magnificences,
Proclamant dans leurs concerts
Le grand Dieu de l'univers.

Saint, saint, saint, est l'Éternel,
Le Seigneur, Dieu des armées ;
Son pouvoir est immortel ;
Ses œuvres partout semées
Font éclater sa grandeur,
Sa majesté, sa splendeur.

Sauve ton peuple, Seigneur,
Et bénis ton héritage ;
Que ta gloire et ta splendeur
Soient à jamais son partage,
Conduis-le par ton amour
Jusqu'au céleste séjour !

Gloire soit au Saint-Esprit !
Gloire soit à Dieu le Père !
Gloire soit à Jésus-Christ,
Notre Sauveur, notre Frère !
Son immense charité
Dure à perpétuité.

OK - verse two in the 9,10,9,10,8,8

Les saints e-et les bie-e-nheu-reux
Les trô-ne-es et le-es pui-ssan-ces
Tou-tes le-es ver-tu-us des cieux
Dis-er te-es ma-gni-i-fi-cen-ces
Pro-cla-ma-ant dans leurs con-certs
Le grand Dieu-eu de l'u-u-ni-vers.

Opinions will probably vary whether one sings font éclater or fon téclater

Comments

Alan said…
On the liaison front, there's a lot of latitude when you speak informally.

But when you sing you ought to get it right.

If I ever meet the average Frenchman I'll ask him if he notices.
1:44 pm
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