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When you in sickness lie, No more the field is green, nor blue the sky ; No more invisible and lovely things The forest haunt with songs and rustling wings ; Back from my stricken sense the world recedes, And beauty's garden is a patch of weeds. Then can I [catch]1 in music's blithest tone Nought but the closing cadence of a moan; Then can I joy no more in sound unheard Save in the silence of the written word; The melodies that once could charm my ear Forbode some final dissonance of fear. Earth has no health, when health from you is fled; No angel stands between the quick and death; The awful unity of life and death Is sacramental in your labouring breath; And as I watch you I can hear Him call Who is the king of Nothing or of All. But ah! your nature surely cannot owe To that grim tyrant such an overthrow; You seem a creature of an alien strain From force and fate, and unallied to pain; Could you but meet their Master, little while Would lapse ere you had won him to a smile.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Albéniz: "hear"
Text Authorship:
- by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (1852 - 1923), "In sickness and in health", appears in Musa Verticordia, first published 1904 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909), "In sickness and health", 1908, published 1909 [medium voice and piano], from Four songs, no. 1, also set in French (Français) [ sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi (1877 - 1944) SPA ; composed by Isaac Albéniz.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "Pour le meilleur et pour le pire", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfredo García) , "En la salud y en la enfermedad", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Alfredo García
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-06
Line count: 24
Word count: 191
Quand la maladie te retient au lit, Plus aucun pré n'est vert ni le ciel n'est bleu ; Plus aucune chose invisible et charmante Ne hante la forêt avec des chansons et des bruissements d'ailes, Le monde se retire de mes sens affligés Et le jardin de la beauté n'est qu'un champ de mauvaises herbes. Alors, je ne peux entendre dans la musique la plus joyeuse Rien d'autre que la cadance finale d'une plainte ; Alors, je ne peux plus me réjouir dans une sonorité inconnue Hors dans le silence des mots écrits ; Les mélodies qui autrefois charmaient mes oreilles sont un présage à quelque dissonance ultime de la peur. La terre a mauvaise mine quand la santé fuit loin de toi ; Pas un ange ne se tient entre la vie et la mort ; L'union horrible de la vie et de la mort Est sacramentel à ton souffle laborieux ; Et alors que je te contemple, j'entend appeler Celui Qui est le roi de tout ou de rien. Ah ! mais surement ta nature ne peut devoir À ce tyran morose une telle désolation ; Tu m'apparais être une créature de source étrangère De la force et du destin et un adversaire à la douleur ; Puisses-tu rencontrer leur Maître, il te faudrait peu de temps pour le gagner à ta cause par ton sourire.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2009 by Jean-Pierre Granger.
This author's work falls under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Jean-Pierre Granger. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (1852 - 1923), "In sickness and in health", appears in Musa Verticordia, first published 1904
This text was added to the website: 2009-11-19
Line count: 24
Word count: 219