I
Just as my fingers on these keys
Make music, so the self-same sounds
On my spirit make a music, too.
Music is feeling, then, not sound;
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,
Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk,
Is music. It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna;
Of a green evening, clear and warm,
She bathed in her still garden, while
The red-eyed elders, watching, felt
The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna.
[ ... ]
Peter Quince at the Clavier
Song Cycle by Jodi Goble (b. 1974)
1. Just as my fingers on these keys [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
Text Authorship:
- by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Peter Quince at the Clavier", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923
See other settings of this text.
First published in Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1915 and Year Book of American Poetry, ed. William Stanley Braithwaite. New York: Gomme and Marshall, 1915.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. In the green water [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
[ ... ] II In the green water, clear and warm, Susanna lay. She searched The touch of springs, And found Concealed imaginings. She sighed, For so much melody. Upon the bank, she stood In the cool Of spent emotions. She felt, among the leaves, The dew Of old devotions. She walked upon the grass, Still quavering. The winds were like her maids, On timid feet, Fetching her woven scarves, Yet wavering. A breath upon her hand Muted the night. She turned -- A cymbal crashed, Amid roaring horns. [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Peter Quince at the Clavier", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923
See other settings of this text.
First published in Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1915 and Year Book of American Poetry, ed. William Stanley Braithwaite. New York: Gomme and Marshall, 1915.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Soon with a noise like tambourines [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
[ ... ] III Soon, with a noise like tambourines, Came her attendant Byzantines. They wondered why Susanna cried Against the elders by her side; And as they whispered, the refrain Was like a willow swept by rain. Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame Revealed Susanna and her shame. And then, the simpering Byzantines Fled, with a noise like tambourines. [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Peter Quince at the Clavier", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923
See other settings of this text.
First published in Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1915 and Year Book of American Poetry, ed. William Stanley Braithwaite. New York: Gomme and Marshall, 1915.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Beauty is momentary in the mind [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English
[ ... ]
IV
Beauty is momentary in the mind --
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.
The body dies; the body's beauty lives.
So evenings die, in their green going,
A wave, interminably flowing.
So gardens die, their meek breath scenting
The cowl of winter, done repenting.
So maidens die, to the auroral
Celebration of a maiden's choral.
Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings
Of those white elders; but, escaping,
Left only Death's ironic scraping.
Now, in its immortality, it plays
On the clear viol of her memory,
And makes a constant sacrament of praise.
Text Authorship:
- by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Peter Quince at the Clavier", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923
See other settings of this text.
First published in Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1915 and Year Book of American Poetry, ed. William Stanley Braithwaite. New York: Gomme and Marshall, 1915.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 1340