"On dit que l'on te marie" (Ay Chiquita)

Overview

A sentimental romance whose first line is «On dit que l'on te marie, / Tu sais que j'en vais mourir». It is the French version, by Paul Bernard, of the Spanish song Ay, Chiquita (also called Las amonestaciones) by the Spanish (Basque) composer Sebastián de Iradier (Yradier), published in Paris by Heugel. Source for this identification: a post on the Nabokov Society list (https://nabokovsociety.org/node/795), which quotes the first stanza and the refrain, "Qui voudrait m'aimer… et qui meurt, qui meurt pour toi". I have not independently confirmed the Heugel imprint or the translator; treat these details as secondary-source only. The 1878 repertoire claim below is Marie's own text. No full-text link is given because I did not find a verifiably public-domain scan.

Marie and this work

A tune she sings or hears again and again, with guitar, from 1878 to 1884. The earlier RSR footnotes call it simply a popular sentimental song of the drawing-room guitar repertoire.

• 081.0501 (20 Jul 1878, Soden): asked to sing it with her mandolin and guitar and her Neapolitan songs; "attendrissement général".
• 081.0509 (21 Jul 1878): one of the two princes tries it on the piano and cannot find the ending, which irritates her.
• 081.0624 (5 Aug 1878): the princes play the Russian anthem, On dit que l'on te marie and the Marseillaise.
• 085.0054 (7 May 1879, Paris): she stops humming the song, "que j'ai toujours dans la bouche", when she sees Cassagnac on the street.
• 091.0616 (12 May 1881): sings it with guitar the day the rumour of Gambetta's marriage is denied.
• 103.0248 (2 Feb 1884): "Une banale petite chanson… et ça après coup. Pas de vers." among her first-love music.

Sources

• Nabokov Society list, "More information on 'On dit que l'on te marie…'" (2016).
• Diary paragraphs as cited.