François Villon  

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'''François Villon''' (1431 - 1463) was a [[French poet]], [[thief]], and [[vagabond]]. He is perhaps best known for his ''[[Le quatrain que feit Villon quand il fut jugé à mourir]]'', written when condemned to death. The question "[[Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?]]," taken from the ''[[Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis]]'' and translated by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?," is one of the most famous lines of translated [[poetry]] in the [[English-speaking world]]. '''François Villon''' (1431 - 1463) was a [[French poet]], [[thief]], and [[vagabond]]. He is perhaps best known for his ''[[Le quatrain que feit Villon quand il fut jugé à mourir]]'', written when condemned to death. The question "[[Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?]]," taken from the ''[[Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis]]'' and translated by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?," is one of the most famous lines of translated [[poetry]] in the [[English-speaking world]].
-==Life==+==In popular culture==
-Villon's real surname has been a matter of some dispute; he has been called '''François de Montcorbier''' and '''François Des Loges''' and other names, though in literature Villon is the sole name used. Villon was born in 1431, almost certainly in [[Paris]]. The singular poems called ''Testaments'', which form his chief if not his only certain work, are largely autobiographical, though of course not fully trustworthy. His frequent collisions with the law have left more concrete records. +
-It appears that he was born in poverty and that his father died in his youth, but that his mother, for whom he wrote one of his most famous ballades, was still living when her son was thirty years old. The name "Villon" was stated by the sixteenth-century historian [[Claude Fauchet]] to be merely a common noun, signifying "cheat" or "rascal", but this seems to be a mistake. It is, however, certain that Villon was a person of loose life, and that he continued, throughout his recorded life, a reckless way of living common among the wilder youth of the [[University of Paris]]. He appears to have derived his surname from his uncle, a close friend and benefactor named Guillaume de Villon, chaplain in the collegiate church of [[Saint-Benoît-le-Bestourne]], and a professor of canon law, who took Villon into his house. +===Stage===
 +*[[Justin Huntly McCarthy]]'s 1901 play and novel, ''[[If I Were King (1920 film)|If I Were King]],'' presented a romanticized view of Villon, using the “King for a Day” theme and giving the poet a happy ending with a beautiful noblewoman.
 +*''[[The Vagabond King]]'' is a 1925 operetta by [[Rudolf Friml]]. Based on McCarthy's play, it was eventually made into two films. (See below.)
 +*''[[The Threepenny Opera|Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)]]'', from 1928, by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, contains several songs that are loosely based on poems by Villon. These poems include "Les Contredits de Franc Gontier", "La Ballade de la Grosse Margot", and "L'Epitaphe Villon". Brecht used German translations of Villon's poems that had been prepared by {{visible anchor|K. L. Ammer}} ({{ill|Karl Anton Klammer|de}}), although Klammer was uncredited.
 +*{{interlanguage link|Daniela Fischerová|wd=Q1163375}} wrote a play in Czech that focused on Villon's trial called ''Hodina mezi psem a vlkem''—which translates to "Dog and Wolf" but literally translates as "The Hour Between Dog and Wolf". The [[Juilliard School]] in New York City mounted a 1994 production of the play, directed by Michael Mayer with music by Michael Philip Ward.
-The poet became a student in arts, no doubt early, perhaps at about twelve years of age, and took the degree of bachelor in 1449 and that of master in 1452. Between this year and 1455, nothing is known of his activities. As the author of the [[1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica]] article writes, "Attempts have been made, in the usual fashion of conjectural biography, to fill up the gap with what a young graduate of [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] tendencies would, could, or might have done, but they are mainly futile."+===Film and television===
 +*McCarthy's play served as the basis for ''[[If I Were King (1920 film)|If I Were King]], a'' 1920 silent film starring [[William Farnum]], and for the [[If I Were King|1938 version]], adapted by [[Preston Sturges]], directed by [[Frank Lloyd]], and starring [[Ronald Colman]] as François Villon, [[Basil Rathbone]] as Louis XI and [[Frances Dee]] as Katherine.
 +*Rudolf Friml's operetta, ''The Vagabond King,'' [[The Vagabond King (1930 film)|was adapted to film in 1930 in a two-strip Technicolor film]] starring [[Dennis King]] and [[Jeanette MacDonald]], and [[The Vagabond King (1956 film)|in 1956, to a film]] starring [[Oreste Kirkop]] and [[Kathryn Grayson]].
 +*McCarthy's play was adapted again in 1945 for ''[[François Villon (film)|François Villon]]'', a French historical drama film directed by [[André Zwoboda]] and starring [[Serge Reggiani]], [[Jean-Roger Caussimon]], and [[Henri Crémieux]].
 +*The television biography ''François Villon'' was made in 1981 in West Germany, with [[Jörg Pleva]] in the title role.
 +*On the big screen there was a large co-production France-Germany-Romania made in 1987, a 195 minutes movie Francois Villon - poetul vagabond, directed by renowned Romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu.
 +*''[[The Beloved Rogue]]'' is a 1927 American [[silent film|silent]] [[Romance film|romantic]] [[adventure film]] starring [[John Barrymore]], [[Conrad Veidt]] and [[Marceline Day]], loosely based on Villon's life.
 +*Villon's work figures in the 1936 movie ''[[The Petrified Forest]]''. The main character, Gabby, a roadside diner waitress played by [[Bette Davis]], longs for expanded horizons; she reads Villon and also recites one of his poems to a wandering hobo "intellectual" played by [[Leslie Howard]].
-On 5 June 1455, the first major and recorded incident of his life occurred. In the company of a priest named Giles and a girl named Isabeau, he met, in the Rue Saint-Jacques, a Breton, Jean le Hardi, a master of arts, who was also with a priest, Philippe Chermoye (or Sermoise or Sermaise). A scuffle broke out, daggers were drawn and Sermaise, who is accused of having threatened and attacked Villon and drawn the first blood, not only received a dagger-thrust in return, but a blow from a stone, which struck him down. He died of his wounds. Villon fled, and was sentenced to banishment – a sentence which was remitted in January 1456 by a pardon from [[Charles VII of France|King Charles VII]] after he received the second of two petitions which made the claim that Sermaise had forgiven Villon before he died. Two different versions of the formal pardon exist; in one, the culprit is identified as ''"François des Loges, autrement dit Villon"'' ("François des Loges, otherwise called Villon"), in the other as "François de Montcorbier." He is also said to have named himself to the [[barber-surgeon]] who dressed his wounds as "Michel Mouton." The documents of this affair at least confirm the date of his birth, by presenting him as twenty-six years old or thereabouts. As a known murderer Villon could not continue his privileged life as a teacher at the [[Collège de Navarre]] or get reputable employment so was now forced to sing in inns to survive. +===Publications===
 +*Villon's poem "Tout aux tavernes et aux filles" was translated into English by 19th-century poet [[William Ernest Henley]] as "Villon’s Straight Tip To All Cross Coves".<ref>{{Cite book | url=http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Farmer-MusaPedestris/villons-straight-tip-to-all-cross-coves.html | first = William Ernest | last = Henley | author-link = William Ernest Henley | title=Villon's Straight Tip to All Cross Coves | work = Musa Pedestris – Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536–1896] | others = Collected and Annotated by John S. Farmer | year = 2017 | publisher = Pinnacle Press | isbn = 978-1374881167 | language = en}}</ref> Another of Henley's attributed poems – written in thieves' slang – is "Villon’s Good-Night".<ref>{{Cite book | url=http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Farmer-MusaPedestris/villons-good-night.html | first = William Ernest | last = Henley | author-link = William Ernest Henley | title=Villon's Good-Night | work = Musa Pedestris – Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536–1896] | others = Collected and Annotated by John S. Farmer | year = 2017 | publisher = Pinnacle Press | isbn = 978-1374881167 | language = en}}</ref>
 +*The ''[[Archy and Mehitabel]]'' poems of [[Don Marquis]] include a poem by a cat who is Villon reincarnated. <Ref>[http://www.next-stage.co.uk/past-20062004/2006/3/2/archy-mehitabel Next Stage]</Ref> <Ref>[https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/illustrations/george-herriman-archy-and-mehitabel-illustration-original-art-doubleday-1927-/a/7211-94159.s ''George Herriman archy and mehitabel Illustration'']</Ref>
 +*In Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “April in Paris” (published in 1962), an American professor of medieval French is in Paris researching the unsolved question of how Villon died when he unexpectedly travels in time back to the late 1400s and gets his answer.<ref>Le Guin, Ursula K., ''The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (Stories),'' Harper & Row (1976)</ref>
 +*The author [[Doris Leslie]] wrote an historical novel, ''I Return: The Story of François Villon'' published in 1962.
 +*In [[Antonio Skármeta]]'s novel, ''El cartero de Neruda'', Villon is mentioned as having been hanged for crimes much less serious than seducing the daughter of the local bar owner.<ref>{{cite book | title = El cartero de Neruda | trans-title = The Postman of Neruda | first = Antonio | last = Skármeta | year = 1998 | publisher = Libros del Bolsillo, Random House Mondadori | page = 70}}</ref>
 +*{{Ill|Valentyn Sokolovsky|uk|Соколовський Валентин Іванович}}'s poem "The night in the city of cherries or Waiting for François" reflects François Villon's life. It takes the form of a person's memories who knew the poet and whose name one can find in the lines of ''The Testament''.<ref>{{citation | first = Valentyn | last = Sokolovsky | title = The night in the city of cherries or Waiting for François | language = ru | location = Kiev, Ukraine | year = 2013}}</ref>
 +*Italian author {{Ill|Luigi Critone|fr}} wrote and illustrated a graphic novel based on Villon's life and works. The 2017 book was entitled ''Je, François Villon'' [''I, François Villon''].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-30122-BD-Je-Francois-Villon.html |title = Je, François Villon | trans-title = I, François Villon | year = 2017 | publisher = Delcourt | language = fr | isbn = 978-2413001867}}</ref>
 +*[[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s short story "A Lodging for the Night: A Story of Francis Villon" follows the poet into a web of crime and desperation on a snowy November night.<ref>Unabridged audio book narrated by A. Lane, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YATdLtO8qsc]</ref>
 +*[[Hunter S. Thompson|Hunter Thompson]]'s book on American motorcycle gangs, ''Hell's Angels'' (1966) starts with a quote: "I am strong but have no power. I win all yet remain a loser. At break of day I say goodnight. When I lie down I have great fear of falling," which he attributes to Villon.
-By the end of 1456, he was again in trouble. In his first brawl, ''"la femme Isabeau"'' is only generally named, and it is impossible to say whether she had anything to do with the quarrel. In the second, [[Catherine de Vaucelles]], of whom we hear not a little in the poems, is the declared cause of a scuffle in which Villon was so severely beaten that, to escape ridicule, he fled to [[Angers]], where he had an uncle who was a monk. Before leaving Paris, he composed what is now known as the ''[[Petit Testament]],'' ''Lais,'' or "Legacy," which shows little of the profound bitterness and regret for wasted life that can be found in its (in every sense) greater successor, the ''[[Grand Testament]]''. Indeed, Villon's serious troubles were only beginning, for hitherto he had been rather injured than guilty.+===Music===
 +*His poem [[Der Erdbeermund]] was an 1989 single for [[Culture Beat]]
 +*The Belgian violinist [[Eugène Ysaÿe]] composed ''Poème No. 5, "Les neiges d'antan"'', Op.23, for violin and orchestra, in 1911.
 +*[[Claude Debussy]] set three of Villon's poems to music for solo voice and piano<ref>[[List of compositions by Claude Debussy#Solo voice with piano]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=October 2020}}
 +*French singer [[Georges Brassens]] included his own setting of ''Ballade des dames du temps jadis'' in his album ''Le Mauvaise Reputation''.
 +*The Swiss composer [[Frank Martin (composer)|Frank Martin]]'s ''Poèmes de la Mort'' [''Poems of Death''] (1969-71) is based on three Villon poems.<ref name=Martin /> The work is for the unusual combination of three tenors and three electric guitars.<ref name=Martin>{{cite web | url = https://www.frankmartin.org/compositions/chamber-music/ | title = Chamber music | work = Frank Martin – Composer (1890–1974) | publisher = Frank Martin Stichting (Frank Martin Society) | date = 2019 | access-date = 4 May 2018 | archive-date = 22 October 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211022024556/https://www.frankmartin.org/compositions/chamber-music/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>
 +*Villon was an influence on American musician [[Bob Dylan]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Bob |last=Dylan |title=Chronicles: Volume One |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNOf_w5vWakC&pg=PA112 | publisher = Simon & Schuster | location = New York, New York, USA |isbn=9780743272582 |date=11 October 2004 }}</ref>
 +*Russian singer and songwriter [[Bulat Okudzhava]], composed Prayer for Francois Villon, a very popular song.
 +*Bulgarian metal band [[Epizod]] were inspired by Francois Villon, and based their lyrics on his poems during their early career. <ref>https://dariknews.bg/regioni/dobrich/rok-grupa-epizod-gostuva-v-dobrich-652723</ref>
-About Christmas 1456, the chapel of the Collège de Navarre was broken open and five hundred gold crowns stolen. The robbery was not discovered until March of the next year, and it was not until May that the police came on the track of a gang of student-robbers, owing to the indiscretion of one of them, Guy Tabarie. A year more passed, when Tabarie, after being arrested, turned king's evidence and accused the absent Villon of being the ringleader, and of having gone to Angers, partly at least, to arrange similar burglaries there. Villon, for this or some other crime, was sentenced to banishment; he did not attempt to return to Paris. For four years, he was a wanderer. He may have been, as his friends Regnier de Montigny and Colin des Cayeux certainly were, a member of a wandering gang of thieves. It is certain that he corresponded with [[Charles, duc d'Orléans]] at least once (in 1457) and it is likely that he resided for some period at that prince's court at [[Château Blois]]. He had also something to do with another prince of the blood, [[Jean of Bourbon]], and there is evidence that he visited [[Poitou]], [[Dauphine]], and other places.  
-At his next certain appearance, he was again in trouble. He tells us that he had spent the summer of 1461 in the bishop's prison at [[Meung-sur-Loire]]. His crime is not known, but is supposed to have been church-robbing; and his enemy, or at least judge, was [[Thibault d'Aussigny]], who held the [[see of Orléans]]. Villon owed his release to a general jail-delivery at the accession of [[Louis XI of France|King Louis XI]] and became a free man again on 2 October 1461. 
- 
-In 1461, only thirty years old, he wrote the ''Grand Testament'', the work which has immortalized him. Even his good intentions must have been feeble, for in the autumn of 1462, he was once more living in the [[cloister]]s of [[Saint-Benoît]] and in November, he was imprisoned for theft in the fortress that stood at today's [[Place du Ch&acirc;telet]] in Paris. In default of evidence, the old charge of the college of Navarre was revived, and even a royal pardon did not bar the demand for restitution. Bail was accepted; however, Villon fell promptly into a street quarrel. He was arrested, tortured and condemned to be hanged (''"pendu et étranglé"''), but the sentence was commuted to banishment by the [[parlement]] on 5 January 1463. The actual outcome is unknown: but from this time François Villon disappears from history. 
- 
-==Works== 
-Villon was a great innovator in terms of the themes of poetry and, through these themes, a great renovator of the forms. He understood perfectly the [[medieval]] courtly ideal, but he often chose to write against the grain, reversing the values and celebrating the lowlifes destined for the gallows, falling happily into parody or lewd jokes, and constantly innovating in his diction and vocabulary; a few minor poems make extensive use of Parisian thieves' slang. Still Villon's verse is mostly about his own life, a record of poverty, trouble, and trial which was certainly shared by his poems' intended audience. 
- 
-In 1460, at the age of thirty, Villon began to compose the works which he named ''Le grand testament'' (1461-1462). This "testament" has generally been judged Villon's greatest work, and there is evidence in the work itself that Villon felt the same.  
- 
-The 2023 verses of the ''Grand testament'' are marked by the immediate prospect of death by hanging and frequently describe other forms of misery and death. It mixes reflections on the passing of time, bitter derision, invective, and religious fervor. This mixed tone of tragic sincerity stands in contrast to the other poets of the time. 
- 
-In one of these poems ''"[[Ballade des dames du temps jadis]]"'' ("The Ballad of Yesterday's Belles"), each stanza and the concluding ''[[envoi]]'' asks after the fate of various celebrated women, including [[Héloise]] and [[Joan of Arc]], and ends with the same semi-ironic question: 
- 
-<blockquote>''Dictes moy ou n'en quel pays<br />Est Flora le belle Romaine<br />Archipiades, ne Thaïs,<br />Qui fut sa cousine germaine,<br />Echo parlant quant ruyt ou maire<br />Dessus riviè ou sus estan,<br />Que beaultè ot trop plus qu'humaine.<br />Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?"'' 
- 
-<P>In English, 
- 
-<p>Tell me from where  
- I could entice<br /> 
- Flora the famous Roman whore,<br /> 
- or Archipiada or Thaïs<br /> 
- who they say was just as fair;<br /> 
- or Echo answering everywhere<br /> 
- across stream and pool and mere,<br /> 
- whose beauty was like none before -<br /> 
- ''where are the snows of yesteryear ?''</p> 
- 
-</blockquote> 
- 
-This same ''"Ballade des dames du temps jadis"'' was famously translated into English in 1870 by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] as "Ballade of Dead Ladies." Rossetti translated the refrain as "But where are the snows of yester-year?" 
- 
-A complete English translation of Villon's surviving works, with extensive notes, was published by Anthony Bonner in 1960. A translation of "The Legacy" and "The Testament" by the American poet [[Galway Kinnell]] appeared in 1965 and was revised in 1977. 
-Translations of three other poems by Villon, plus translations of two into rhyming cant by [[William Ernest Henley]] can be read on [[Anthony Weir]]'s "[[Beyond-the-Pale]]" website. 
- 
-==Critical views== 
-Villon's work enjoyed substantial popularity in the decades after they were written. In 1489, a printed volume of his poems was published by [[Pierre Levet]]. This edition was almost immediately followed by several others. In 1533, poet and humanist scholar [[Clément Marot]] published an important edition, in which he recognized Villon as one of the most important poets in French literature and sought to correct mistakes that had been introduced to the poetry by earlier and less careful printers. 
- 
-The most commonly featured motifs that can be found in Villon's poetry are "[[carpe diem]]", "[[ubi sunt]]", "[[memento mori]]" and "[[danse macabre]]". 
- 
-In 1960, the Greek artist "[[Nonda]]" dedicated an entire one man art show to François Villon with the support of [[André Malraux]]. This took place under the arches of the [[Pont Neuf]] and was dominated by a gigantic ten-meter canvas entitled ''Hommage à Villon'' depicting the poet at a banquet table with his concubines.  
- 
-See also [[Ezra Pound]]'s musical setting of Villon's Le Testament as a work of literary criticism concerning the relationship of words and music (in next category below, under Depictions). 
- 
-==References in popular culture== 
-In 1901 the playwright and Irish MP [[Justin Huntly McCarthy]] wrote a play, "[[If I Were King]]", imagining a swashbuckling Villon matching wits with [[Louis XI]], climaxing with Villon finding love in Louis' court and saving Paris from the Duke of Burgundy when Louis makes him [[Constable of France]] for a week. Though largely fictitious (there is no evidence Villon and Louis even met), this proved to be a long-running success for the actor [[Sir George Alexander]] and a perennial on stage and screen for the next several decades. 
- 
-''If I Were King'' was filmed as a straight drama twice, as a silent in 1920 with [[William Farnum]] as Villon and [[Fritz Leiber, Sr.|Fritz Leiber]] as Louis, and as a talkie in 1938 with [[Ronald Colman]] as Francis Villon and [[Basil Rathbone]] as Louis. In 1927, [[John Barrymore]] also starred as Villon in ''[[The Beloved Rogue]]'', directed by [[Alan Crosland]] (of ''[[The Jazz Singer (1927 film)|The Jazz Singer]]'' fame), opposite [[Conrad Veidt]] as Louis. Though not officially based on the McCarthy play, it draws on the same fictitious notions of relations between Villon and Louis. 
- 
-The 1925 operetta ''[[The Vagabond King]]'' is also based on the McCarthy play, and it too has been filmed twice – in 1930, with Dennis King and [[Jeanette MacDonald]], and in 1956, with [[Oreste Kirkop]] and [[Kathryn Grayson]]. In the operetta, however, Villon is appointed king for twenty-four hours, and must solve all of Louis XI's political problems in that amount of time. 
- 
-[[Bertolt Brecht]]'s [[Baal]] was written from 1918 to 1919. He based the main character Baal after François Villon. Some of the lyrics Brecht wrote for "Threepenny Opera" are translations or paraphrases of poems by Villon. [[John Erskine]] wrote "The Brief Hour of Francois Villon" in 1937, a work of historical fiction. [[Henry Livings]]' The Quick and the Dead Quick (1961), is an unconventional historical drama about François Villon. 
- 
-A 1960 play by the Czech author [[Jan Werich]] called 'Balada z hadrů' (Balade from drags) was inspired by Villon's work and adapted some of his poems as lyrics for a number of songs. 
- 
-[[Ezra Pound]]'s opera ''[[Le Testament]]'' takes passages from Villon's Le Testament for its libretto to demonstrate radical changes in the relationship of words and music under Villon's pen, changes that Pound believed profoundly influenced English poetry. The opera was first composed by the poet in London, 1920–1921, with the help of pianist Agnes Bedford. It underwent many revisions to better notate the rhythmic relationships between words and music. These included a concert version for the Salle Pleyel in Paris in 1926, a rhythmically complicated score edited by [[George Antheil]] in 1923, a hybrid version of these earlier scores for broadcast by the [[BBC]] in 1931, and a final version fully edited by Pound in 1933. The 1923 Pound/Antheil version was premiered in 1971 by the San Francisco Opera Western Opera Theater, conducted and recorded by Robert Hughes (Fantasy Records), with Phillip Booth in the role of Villon. Portions of this LP have been re-released on Other Minds audio CD "Ego scriptor cantilenae, The music of Ezra Pound." The opera was first published in March 2008. 
- 
-In [[Truman Capote]]'s novel, [[In Cold Blood]], there is a brief introduction using the first four lines of Villon's [[Ballade des Pendus]]. 
- 
-In a short story by [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], ''A lodging for the night'', Francis Villon (anglicized spelling), searching for shelter on a freezing winter night, knocks randomly at the door of an old nobleman. Invited in, they talk long into the night. Villon openly admits to being a thief and a scoundrel, but argues that the chivalric values upheld by the old man are no better. The story appears in the collection ''New Arabian Nights'' (1882). 
- 
-In [[Ryūnosuke Akutagawa]]'s ''The Life of a Stupid Man'', published in 1927 after his suicide, Akutagawa mentions being truly moved by Villon's work. He writes "He found in that poet's many works the 'beautiful male'" and states he feels like he is waiting to be hanged like Villon, unable to keep fighting in life. 
- 
-In [[Osamu Dazai]]'s "Villon's Wife" a young woman who is married to a dilletante comes to understand his destitute ways when she takes on the duty of paying off his debts. The ne'er-do-well is a womanizing writer who is unsuccessful. The setting is occupation period Japan. 
- 
-He is a minor character in [[Tim Powers]]' ''[[The Stress of Her Regard]]'', having lived into the 19th century through his association with the vampiric Lamia of the novel. 
- 
-[[Errol Flynn]] played Villon in a short TV episode (part of the "[[Screen Directors' Playhouse]]"), entitled "The Sword of Villon," directed by [[George Waggner]] (1956). 
- 
-Early in the film ''[[The Petrified Forest]]'' Bette Davis' character is reading a collection of Villon's poetry. Later she reads a few lines of "''Ballad for a Bridegroom''" to Leslie Howard's character, and in the final scene she again quotes "''Ballad for a Bridegroom''."  
- 
-The Russian bard singer [[Bulat Okudzhava]] has a song called "The Prayer of François Villon" (in Russian "Молитва Франсуа Вийона"). 
- 
-The German singer-songwriter [[Wolf Biermann]] wrote a ballad over Villon, "Ballade auf den Dichter François Villon" in 1968, available on the "Chauseestrasse 131" LP. 
- 
-The French singer-songwriter [[Georges Brassens]] has a song called "Ballade des dames du temps jadis", where he puts Villon's poem into music. 
- 
-The French singer-songwriter [[Léo Ferré]] put ''Ballade des pendus'' to music in his album ''[[La Violence et l'Ennui]]'' (1980). 
- 
-French [[black metal]] band [[Peste Noire]] adapted the song into a black metal version entitled "Ballade cuntre les anemis de la France" for their album, "Ballade cuntre lo anemi Francor". 
- 
-In the [[role-playing game]], [[Vampire: the Masquerade]], by [[White Wolf, Inc.]], Villon is portrayed as the vampire prince of Paris. 
- 
-Villon's Inkwell is an Artifact in the [[Syfy]] show [[Warehouse 13]]. The ink from the inkwell creates a black hole through which items can be passed when it is poured on a solid surface, sort of like a [[portable hole]]. 
- 
-During the television series [[Downton Abbey]]'s Christmas Special, the Dowager countess uses the line "Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan", as to refer to a thief, or villon if you may, she met in the late 60's. 
- 
-In Catch-22, Joseph Heller's protagonist Yossarian laments the death of one of his bomber's flight crew, Snowden, with "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" as well as in French, "Ou sont les Neigedens d'antan?" It is, perhaps, the most powerful moment in the novel. 
- 
-"You're like a Villonian singing nun" is a line in the song 'Jonesy Boy' from [[Cass McCombs]]'s album, [[Catacombs (album)]]. Vagrancy and being an outlaw are running themes in McComb's work. 
==Illustrations== ==Illustrations==

Revision as of 12:41, 21 May 2024

"François Villon was a poet, thief, vagabond and master at combining lyrical texts with veiled obscenities. His love of language is reflected in his extensive knowledge of the jobelin, an argot secret language used by medieval crime societies. He finds himself repeatedly on the wrong end of the prison bars, where he also writes some of his most famous works, including his "Ballad of the Hanged". He is the precursor of the equally criminally inclined writer 20th-century Jean Genet and the first representative of prison literature as a genre."--A History of Erotica (2011) by Jan-Willem Geerinck

"Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?"

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François Villon (1431 - 1463) was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Le quatrain que feit Villon quand il fut jugé à mourir, written when condemned to death. The question "Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?," taken from the Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis and translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?," is one of the most famous lines of translated poetry in the English-speaking world.

Contents

In popular culture

Stage

  • Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 play and novel, If I Were King, presented a romanticized view of Villon, using the “King for a Day” theme and giving the poet a happy ending with a beautiful noblewoman.
  • The Vagabond King is a 1925 operetta by Rudolf Friml. Based on McCarthy's play, it was eventually made into two films. (See below.)
  • Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), from 1928, by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, contains several songs that are loosely based on poems by Villon. These poems include "Les Contredits de Franc Gontier", "La Ballade de la Grosse Margot", and "L'Epitaphe Villon". Brecht used German translations of Villon's poems that had been prepared by Template:Visible anchor (Template:Ill), although Klammer was uncredited.
  • Template:Interlanguage link wrote a play in Czech that focused on Villon's trial called Hodina mezi psem a vlkem—which translates to "Dog and Wolf" but literally translates as "The Hour Between Dog and Wolf". The Juilliard School in New York City mounted a 1994 production of the play, directed by Michael Mayer with music by Michael Philip Ward.

Film and television

Publications

  • Villon's poem "Tout aux tavernes et aux filles" was translated into English by 19th-century poet William Ernest Henley as "Villon’s Straight Tip To All Cross Coves".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Another of Henley's attributed poems – written in thieves' slang – is "Villon’s Good-Night".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • The Archy and Mehitabel poems of Don Marquis include a poem by a cat who is Villon reincarnated. <Ref>Next Stage</Ref> <Ref>George Herriman archy and mehitabel Illustration</Ref>
  • In Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “April in Paris” (published in 1962), an American professor of medieval French is in Paris researching the unsolved question of how Villon died when he unexpectedly travels in time back to the late 1400s and gets his answer.<ref>Le Guin, Ursula K., The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (Stories), Harper & Row (1976)</ref>
  • The author Doris Leslie wrote an historical novel, I Return: The Story of François Villon published in 1962.
  • In Antonio Skármeta's novel, El cartero de Neruda, Villon is mentioned as having been hanged for crimes much less serious than seducing the daughter of the local bar owner.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Template:Ill's poem "The night in the city of cherries or Waiting for François" reflects François Villon's life. It takes the form of a person's memories who knew the poet and whose name one can find in the lines of The Testament.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
  • Italian author Template:Ill wrote and illustrated a graphic novel based on Villon's life and works. The 2017 book was entitled Je, François Villon [I, François Villon].<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Robert Louis Stevenson's short story "A Lodging for the Night: A Story of Francis Villon" follows the poet into a web of crime and desperation on a snowy November night.<ref>Unabridged audio book narrated by A. Lane, [1]</ref>
  • Hunter Thompson's book on American motorcycle gangs, Hell's Angels (1966) starts with a quote: "I am strong but have no power. I win all yet remain a loser. At break of day I say goodnight. When I lie down I have great fear of falling," which he attributes to Villon.

Music

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Illustrations

Bibliography

See also



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "François Villon" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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