Vulcan provide me such a cup, As Nestor used of old; Try all your art to trim it up, And damask it round with gold. Carve me thereon a curling vine, A lovely girl and boy: Their limbs in am'rous folds intwine, The type of future joy. Make it so large, when fill'd with Sack, Up to the swelling brim, That toasts in that delicious lake Like ships at sea may swim. Bacchus and Venus my guardians are, Let wine and beauty reign! With wine we'll drive away all care, And then to love again.
Six songs , opus 18
by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953)
1. To wine and beauty  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on
- a text in English by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 - 1680), "Upon his drinking a bowl", written 1673, first published 1680
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) [text unavailable]
- a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE), no title [text unavailable]
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Note: this is a bowdlerized version of the original.
Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe
2. Where be you going  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Where be [ye]1 going, you Devon Maid?
And what have ye there in the Basket?
Ye tight little fairy just fresh from the dairy,
Will ye give me some cream if I ask it?
I love your hills, and I love your dales,
And I love your flocks a-bleating --
But O, on the heather to lie together,
With both our hearts a-beating!
[ ... ]
I'll put your Basket all safe in [a]2 nook,
Your shawl [I]3 hang up on the willow,
And we will sigh in the daisy's eye
And kiss on [a]2 grass green pillow.
Authorship:
- by John Keats (1795 - 1821), "The Devon maid", subtitle: "Stanzas Sent in a Letter to B. R. Haydon"
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Der Korb", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
1 Bridge, Quilter: "you"
2 Bridge: "the"
3 Bridge, Quilter: "I'll"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. The jocund dance  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
I love the [jocund]1 dance, The softly breathing song, Where innocent eyes do glance, [And]2 where lisps the maiden's tongue. I love the laughing vale, I love the echoing [hills]3, Where mirth does never fail, And the jolly swain laughs his fill. I love the pleasant cot, I love the innocent bow'r, Where white and brown is our lot, Or fruit in the midday hour. I love the oaken seat, Beneath the oaken tree, Where all the [old]2 villagers meet, And laugh [our]4 sports to see. I love our neighbors all, But Kitty, I [better love thee]5; And love them [I ever]6 shall; But thou art all to me.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Song"
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Mitchell: "merry"
2 not set by Mitchell.
3 Mitchell: "hill"
4 Mitchell: "my"
5 Mitchell: "love thee more"
6 Mitchell: "ever I"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Spring is at the door  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
The Spring is at the door: She bears a golden store, Her maund with yellow daffodils runneth o'er. Her rosy feet are bare, The wind is in her hair, And O her eyes are April eyes, very fair. After her footsteps follow The mullein and the mallow; She scatters golden powder on the sallow. She brings the crocus white, And golden aconite: She brings desire and doubting and delight.
Authorship:
- by Nora Hopper (1871 - 1906), "Spring song", from Songs of the morning, pp. 56-57, Grant Richards, London, first published 1900
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Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe5. Through the sunny garden  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
Through the sunny garden The humming bees are still; The fir climbs the heather, The heather climbs the hill. The low clouds have riven A little rift through. The hill climbs to heaven, Far away and blue.
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), no title, appears in Poems, in Chillingham, no. 1, first published 1907
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry6. The Valley and the Hill  [sung text checked 1 time]
Language: English
O the high valley, the little low hill, And the cornfield over the sea, The wind that rages and then lies still, And the clouds that rest and flee! O the grey island in the rainbow haze, And the long thin spits of land, The roughening pastures and the stony ways, And the golden flash of the sand! O the brown bracken, the black-berry bough, The scent of the gorse in the air! I shall love them ever as I love them now, I shall weary in Heaven to be there!
Authorship:
- by Mary Coleridge (1861 - 1907), no title, appears in Poems, in Chillingham, no. 2, first published 1907
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry