Of Neptune's empire let us sing, At whose command the waves obey; To whom the rivers tribute pay, Down the high mountains sliding: To whom the scaly nation yields Homage for the crystal fields Wherein they dwell: And every sea-dog pays a gem Yearly out of his wat'ry cell To deck great Neptune's diadem. The Tritons dancing in a ring Before his palace gates do make The water with their echoes quake, Like the great thunder sounding: The sea-nymphs chant their accents shrill, And the sirens, taught to kill With their sweet voice, Make ev'ry echoing rock reply Unto their gentle murmuring noise The praise of Neptune's empery.
Six songs , opus 19
by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924)
1. A Hymn in Praise of Neptune  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Thomas Campion (1567 - 1620), "A Hymn in Praise of Neptune"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Golden slumbers  [sung text checked 1 time]
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles awake you when you rise: Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby, Rock them, rock [them]1, lullaby. Care is heavy, therefore sleep you; You are care and care must keep you: Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby: Rock them, rock [them]1, lullaby.
Authorship:
- by Thomas Dekker (c1572 - 1632), "The song", appears in The Pleasant Comoedy of Patient Grissill, first published 1603
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Henry Chettle and Thomas Dekker, Patient Grissil, London, 1632. Modernized spelling.
1Warlock: "a lulla"Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. To the rose  [sung text checked 1 time]
Go, happy rose, and interwove With other flowers bind my love. Tell her too, she must not be Longer flowing, longer free, That so oft has fettered me. Say, if she's fretful, I have bands Of pearl and gold to bind her hands; Tell her, if she struggle still, I have my the rods at will, For to tame, but not to kill. Take thou my blessing thus and go, And tell her this, but do not so! Lest a handsome anger fly Like a lightning from her eye, And burn thee up, as well as I.
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)
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Researcher for this page: Ted Perry4. Come to me when the earth is fair  [sung text not yet checked]
Come to me when the earth is fair With all the freshness of the spring, When life fills all the liquid air, And when the woods with music ring; When all the wakening flowers rejoice, And birds remind me of your voice. Come to me when the summer's heat Is strong the breeze of spring to kill; When gardens with perfume are sweet, And when the languid noon is still; Come when the opened buds disclose The glory of the full-blown rose. Come to me when the summer fades, When all the rose's sweets are dead, When autumn robes the saddening glades, When purple heather turns to red; Come to me when the wrinkled leaf Falls like the tear of constant grief. Come chiefly when all warmth is lost, When autumn to stern winter yields; Come when the bitter edge of frost Shrouds all the verdure of the fields; Come when all else is dark and drear, Thy presence then is doubly dear.
Authorship:
- by Walter Herries Pollock (1850 - 1926), "Come"
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Confirmed with MacMillan's Magazine, Volume 25, November 1871 to April 1872, London, MacMillan and Co., page 160.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
5. Boat song  [sung text not yet checked]
Boat, little boat, A breeze on thy white sails shall soon light, Float, lightly float, Far away into the moonlight: Winging thy flight, From the noise and the jar of the world. In a dream of delight Shall thy glistening sails be unfurled: Float far away, From the glare of the sun's blinding light, From the heat of the day, To the cool of the slumbering night: Float through the bay, Though the soft ripples' infinite motion; Bear me away, To the tireless waves of the ocean: Float to the deep, To the ocean-bird's long-rolling pillows, Ah ! Let me sleep On a soft-tossing cradle of billows.
Authorship:
- by Walter Herries Pollock (1850 - 1926), "Boat song", appears in Songs and Rhymes: English and French
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Confirmed with Walter Herries Pollock, Songs and Rhymes: English and French, London: Remington & Co., 1882, pages 62-63.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
6. The Rhine wine  [sung text not yet checked]
Pour out the bright nectar, To lay the grim spectre That lurks in the depths underlying our mirth; Forget for a minute That life has aught in it, Save all that is fair on the face of the earth. Outstrip melancholy, We'll catch flying folly, And with her away to her kingdom take wing; And gay songs and dances Shall banish our fancies, That life has a burden or love has a sting. Our friends Care and Sorrow May find us to-morrow; To-night if they seek us we'll drown them in wine, And all of our troubles Shall die with the bubbles That float on the foaming life-stream of the Rhine.
Authorship:
- by Walter Herries Pollock (1850 - 1926), "Moussirender Rheinwein", appears in Songs and Rhymes: English and French
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Confirmed with Walter Herries Pollock, Songs and Rhymes: English and French, London: Remington & Co., 1882, pages 56-57.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]