Winter Windows -- 7 songs for Baritone and Piano

Song Cycle by Juliana Hall (b. 1958)

1. Winter night
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Pile high the hickory and the light
Log of chestnut struck by the blight.
Welcome-in the winter night.
The day has gone in hewing and felling,
Sawing and drawing wood to the dwelling
For the night of talk and story-telling.
These are the hours that give the edge
To the blunted axe and the bent wedge,
Straighten the saw and lighten the sledge.
Here are question and reply,
And the fire reflected in the thinking eye.
So peace, and let the bob-cat cry.

Text Authorship:

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. The snowflake
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Before I melt,
Come, look at me!
This lovely icy filigree!
Of a great forest
In one night
I make a wilderness
Of white:
By skyey cold
Of crystals made,
All softly, on
Your finger laid,
I pause, that you
My beauty see:
Breathe, and I vanish
Instantly.

Text Authorship:

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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.

Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]

3. A song
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
A widow bird sate mourning for her love
  Upon a wintry bough,
The frozen wind crept on above;
  The freezing stream below.

There was no leaf upon the forest bare,
  No flower upon the ground
And little motion in the air,
  Except the mill-wheel's sound.

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Píseň"
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Un passero solitario il suo amore lamenta", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Some settings use the modernized spelling "sat" instead of "sate"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. The Snow‑Man
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
What shape is this in cowl of snow?
Stiff broom and icy hat?
A saffron moon, half-hidden, stares —
But what is she staring at?

The knocker dangles on the door,
But stark as tree and post
He blankly eyes the bright green paint,
Is silent as a ghost.

But wait till belfry midnight strike,
And up to the stars is tossed
Shrill cockcrow! — then, he’ll gadding go —
And, at his heels, Jack Frost:

Broom over shoulder, away he’ll go,
Finger-tips tingling, nose aglow,
Dancing and yodelling through the snow,
And, at his heels, Jack Frost!

Text Authorship:

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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.

Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]

5. Lully
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Nay, ninny, shut those sleepy eyes,
The robin from his spray
Long since to his cold winter roost
Has flown away.

Hush, now, and fold those gentle hands;
Across the fields the snow
Has hidden the bleating sheep from sight,
And heaped the hedges through.

Wail not so shrill, thou tiny voice;
These shadows mean no harm;
’Tis but the flames this wintry night
To keep thee safe and warm;
Lully, and rest then, pretty soul,
Safe on thy mother’s arm.

Text Authorship:

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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.

Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]

6. Winter evening
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Over the wintry fields the snow drifts; falling, falling;
Its frozen burden filling each hollow. And hark;
Out of the naked woods a wild bird calling,
On the starless verge of the dark!

Text Authorship:

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Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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.

Researcher for this page: David Sims [Guest Editor]

7. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farm-house near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", written 1922, appears in New Hampshire, first published 1923

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Halten am Walde im Abendschnee", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada, 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.

Note: this poem became public-domain on Jan 1, 2019.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 497