Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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Facing Pages · Branch 1812 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1812
French
p. 3623La musique. — Que le chant exige une autre disposition du gozier et un autre caractère dans la voix que la parole.
Chanter n’est pas seulement se faire entendre et agencer des paroles à des notes avec quelque exactitude et quelque précision que cela se fasse. Chanter, c’est faire entendre une voix et des accens qui émeuvent l’imagination.
Ceux qui chantent bien ont de l’écho dans leur gozier et je ne scais quel moelleux. Ceux qui chantent comme on parle ne chantent pas, mais ils parlent en cadence. Le chant doit être au parler ce que les vers sont à la prose.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3624Music. — That singing requires a different disposition of the throat and a different character in the voice from speech.
To sing is not merely to make oneself heard and fit words to notes, with whatever exactness and precision this may be done. To sing is to make heard a voice and accents that stir the imagination.
Those who sing well have an echo in their throat and I know not what mellowness. Those who sing as one speaks do not sing, but speak in cadence. Singing should be to speaking what verse is to prose.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1812
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.