Hymns Sung at Grand-Pré in 1755

July 28, 2008

GRAND-PRÉ, July 16, 2008 – National Day of Commemoration of the Deportation of the Acadians

Thanks to Reverend Andrew Brown, a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, we know three of the hymns the Acadians sang when they were walking from Grand-Pré to the transport ships waiting to deport them to the British colonies in 1755.  Rev. Brown served as minister of St. Matthew’s Church in Halifax from 1787 to 1795. During his stay in Nova Scotia, he took on the task of collecting oral accounts of the history of the Acadians for whom he had great sympathy. Using information from eyewitnesses, he wrote down the words of three hymns the Acadians sang in Grand-Pré at the time of the Deportation.

The three hymns were: “Faux plaisirs, vains honneurs” (False Pleasures, Vain Honours), “Tout passe” (Everything Passes On), and “Vive Jésus” (Long Live Jesus). It was not until the 1930s that research was carried out in order to find the tunes to the hymns that Rev. Brown had transcribed. Working independently, Gérard Morisset and Father Daniel Boudreau found the music for the first two hymns but not the third one.

The well-known Acadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc provides a wonderful interpretation of “Tout passe”on her CD of the same title (on the ATMA Classique label). The following is a translation of this very old French hymn.

Everything Passes On

Beneath the sky                                    Young and old,

All is but flux,                                       Officers and ranks,

Everything passes on,                            Everything passes on.

And no matter what we do                    We each take our place

Our days flow                                       And disappear one day

Faster than a torrent.                             During our mortal sojourn.

Everything passes on.                            Everything passes on.

A great truth:                                        Like the ship

Other than eternity,                               That sails in the distance,

Everything passes on.                            Everything passes on;

Let us put mercy first,                           Without a trace,

Time is precious                                    So go the honours,

While before our eyes,                          The chattels and the glories.

Everything passes on.                            Everything passes on.

SOURCES: Father Anselme Chiasson, “Cantique acadiens de 1755”,
Les Cahiers de la Société historique acadienne
Vol. 8, no 1, mars 1977; Archives concernant la Déportation et le Grand Dérangement,
www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/deportation/archives.asp.

For further information, please contact:

Sally Ross
Marketing and Media Relations
Société Promotion Grand-Pré
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The Société Promotion Grand-Pré is a non-profit organization representing the Acadian community that collaborates with Parks Canada to ensure the development and integrity of Grand-Pré National Historic Site.

Contact: Victor Tétrault
Executive Director, Société Promotion Grand-Pré
Phone: 902) 542-1952
Fax:902) 542-1691
WebSite: www.grand-pre.com