Hermit songs

Song Cycle by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981)

Word count: 644

French (Français) translation: Chansons d'ermite ( Guy Laffaille)

1. At Saint Patrick's Purgatory [sung text checked 1 time]

Pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derg!
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin, né John Francis Whelan (1900 - 1991), appears in The Silver Branch, copyright © 1938 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, "Truagh mo thuras ar Loch Dearg"

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Au purgatoire de Saint Patrick", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

2. Church bell at night [sung text checked 1 time]

Sweet little bell
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Howard Mumford Jones (1892 - 1980), appears in The Romanesque Lyric: Studies in its Background and Development from Petronius to the Cambridge Songs 50-1050, first published 1928, copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Cloche de l'église la nuit.", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

3. Saint Ita's vision [sung text checked 1 time]

I will take nothing from my Lord," said she
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Chester Kallman (1921 - 1975), copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) possibly by St. Ita (flourished 8th century)

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Vision de Sainte Ita", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Sol Crespo) , "St. Ita's Vision", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
View original text (without footnotes)
¹ The lines not set by Barber have not yet been located.

4. The heavenly banquet [sung text checked 1 time]

I would like to have the men of Heaven in my own house
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin, né John Francis Whelan (1900 - 1991), "The heavenly banquet", appears in The Silver Branch, copyright © 1938 [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) possibly by St. Brigid (flourished 10th century)

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le banquet céleste", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Note (provided by Melanie Trumbull): Sean O'Faolain did not translate all seven verses of the original Irish. He also rearranged the verses. The result is a text made up of translations of stanzas 3, 6, 5, and 1 (in that order). Samuel Barber's song uses this ordering as well.

5. The crucifixion

Note: this is a multi-text setting

At the cry of the first bird
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Howard Mumford Jones (1892 - 1980), appears in The Romanesque Lyric: Studies in its Background and Development from Petronius to the Cambridge Songs 50-1050, first published 1928, copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, no title, from The Speckled Book, 12^th cent.

Go to the single-text view

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La crucifixion", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Sol Crespo) , "La crucifixión", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: René Slot

Ah, sore was the suffering borne
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Howard Mumford Jones (1892 - 1980), no title, appears in The Romanesque Lyric: Studies in its Background and Development from Petronius to the Cambridge Songs 50-1050, first published 1928, copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, no title

Go to the single-text view

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Sol Crespo) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: René Slot

6. Sea-snatch [sung text checked 1 time]

It has broken us, it has crushed us
 [ ... ]

Authorship

sometimes misattributed to Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (1909 - 1991)
by Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin, né John Francis Whelan (1900 - 1991), "The wind", appears in The Silver Branch, copyright © [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, no title

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Raz de marée", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

Confirmed with The Silver Branch: A Collection of the best Old Irish lyrics, variously translated, chosen by Seán O'Faoláin, Viking Press, 1938, page 64. The translation is credited to Seán O'Faoláin in this book, but the translation also appears in A Celtic Miscellany, © 1951, attributed to Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson.

7. Promiscuity [sung text checked 1 time]

I do not know with whom Edan will sleep,
but I do know that fair Edan will not sleep alone.

Authorship

by Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (1909 - 1991), "Promiscuity", appears in A Celtic Miscellany, first published 1951 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, no title

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

Researcher for this text: René Slot

8. The monk and his cat [sung text checked 1 time]

Pangur, white Pangur
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]

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

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

9. The praises of God [sung text checked 1 time]

How foolish the man who does not raise
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), copyright © [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]

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

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.

10. The desire for hermitage [sung text checked 1 time]

Ah! To be all alone in a little cell
 [ ... ]

Authorship

by Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin, né John Francis Whelan (1900 - 1991), appears in The Silver Branch, copyright © 1938 [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on

a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist, no title

Go to the single-text view

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

This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.