The stately tragedy of dusk Drew to its perfect close, The virginal white evening star Sank, and the red moon rose.
Quiet Airs
Song Cycle by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990)
1. Twilight  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Twilight", appears in Rivers to the Sea, first published 1915
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Gentle greeting  [sung text checked 1 time]
I know not how it falls on me, This summer evening, hushed and lone; Yet the faint wind comes soothingly With something of an olden tone. Forgive me if I've shunned so long Your gentle greeting, earth and air! But sorrow withers [e'en]1 the strong, And who can fight against despair?
Authorship:
- by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), no title, appears in The Complete Poems of Emily Brontë, first published 1910
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Bacon: "even"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. The divine ship  [sung text checked 1 time]
One thought ever at the fore - That in the Divine Ship, the World, breasting Time and Space, All Peoples of the globe together sail, sail the same voyage, Are bound to the same destination.
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "One thought ever at the fore"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Of love  [sung text checked 1 time]
How love came in I do not know, Whether by the eye, or ear, or no; Or whether with the soul it came (At first) infused with the same; Whether in part 'tis here or there, Or, like the soul, whole everywhere, This troubles me: but I as well As any other this can tell: That when from hence she does depart The outlet then is from the heart.
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "Of love. A sonnet", appears in The Hesperides
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. Eden  [sung text checked 1 time]
Come slowly, Eden! Lips unused to thee, Bashful, sip thy [jasmines]1, As the fainting bee, Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums, Counts his nectars - enters, And is lost in balms!
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), appears in Bolts of Melody, first published 1945
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Hoekman: "Jessamines"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
6. The little stone  [sung text checked 1 time]
How happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And doesn't care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, Fulfilling absolute decree In casual simplicity.
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems by Emily Dickinson, first published 1891
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
7. Fond affection  [sung text checked 1 time]
The world's so wide I cannot cross it, The sea's so deep I cannot wade, I'll just go hire me a little boatman To row me across the stormy tide. I give you back your ring and letters, And the picture I have loved so well And henceforth we will meet as strangers, But I can never say farewell. There's only three things that I could wish for, That is, my coffin, shroud and grave, And when I'm dead, oh please don't weep o'er me Or kiss the lips you once betrayed.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]8. Stars  [sung text not yet checked]
Stars, I have seen them fall, But when they drop and die No star is lost at all From all the star-sown sky. The toil of all that be Helps not the primal fault; It rains into the sea, And still the sea is salt.
Authorship:
- by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in More Poems, no. 7, first published 1936
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]9. The heart  [sung text checked 1 time]
The heart asks pleasure - first, And then excuse from pain. And then those little anodynes That deaden suffering. And then, to go to sleep; And then, if it should be The will of its Inquisitor, The liberty to die.
Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le Cœur réclame le Plaisir - d'abord", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
10. Song of snow‑white heads  [sung text checked 1 time]
Our love was pure As the snow on the mountains: White as a moon Between the clouds -- They're telling me Your thoughts are double That's why I've come To break it off. To-day we'll drink A cup of wine. To-morrow we'll part Beside the Canal: Walking about Beside the Canal, Where its branches divide East and west. Alas and alas, And again alas. So must a girl Cry when she's married, If she find not a man Of single heart, Who will not leave her Till her hair is white.
Authorship:
- by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969), "Song of snow-white heads", first published 1918
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Cho Wēn-chün [text unavailable]
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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Translated by Arthur Waley, London, Constable and Company Ltd., 1918, pages 50-51.Note: the poem is preceded by this explanation:
Ssŭ-ma Hsiang-ju was a young poet who had lost his position at court owing to ill-health. One day Cho Wēn-chün, a rich manâs daughter, heard him singing at a feast given by her father. She eloped with him that night, and they set up a wine-shop together. After a time Hsiang-ju became famous as a poet, but his character was marred by love of money. He sold love-poems, which the ladies of the palace sent to the emperor in order to win his favour. Finally, he gave presents to the "ladies of Mo-ling," hoping to secure a concubine. It was this step that induced his mistress, Cho Wēn-chün, to write the following poem.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
11. The lamb  [sung text checked 1 time]
Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and [bid]1 thee feed, By the stream and o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Little Lamb, I'll tell thee, Little Lamb, I'll tell thee: He is callèd by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild: He became a little child. I a child, and thou a lamb, We are callèd by His name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The lamb", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 4, first published 1789
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "L'anyell", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Thomas F. Schubert) , "Das Lamm", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Агнец", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 MacNutt, Somervell: "bade"
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
12. To musique, to becalme his fever  [sung text checked 1 time]
Charm me asleep, and melt me so With thy delicious numbers, That, being ravish'd, hence I go Away in easy slumbers. Ease my sick head, And make my bed, Thou power that canst sever From me this ill, And quickly still, Though thou not kill My fever. Thou sweetly canst convert the same From a consuming fire Into a gentle licking flame, And make it thus expire. Then make me weep My pains asleep; And give me such reposes That I, poor I, May think thereby I live and die 'Mongst roses. Fall on me like [a]1 silent dew, Or like those maiden showers Which, by the peep of day, do strew A baptism o'er the flowers Melt, melt my [pains]2 With thy soft strains; That, having ease me given, With full delight I leave this light, And take my flight [For]3 Heaven.
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To Music, to becalm his fever"
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Ewazen, Hindemith: "the"
2 Ewazen: "pain"
3 Gideon, Hindemith: "To"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]