Five Choral Poems

Song Cycle by Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928)

?. Some one [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Some one came knocking
  At my wee, small door;
Some one came knocking,
  I'm sure - sure - sure;
I listened, I opened,
  I looked to left and right,
But naught there was a-stirring
  In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
  Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
  The screech-owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling
  [While]¹ the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
  At all, at all, at all.

Text Authorship:

by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Some one", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 1. Up and Down, no. 10, first published 1913

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Archer: "When"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. Nothing is enough

Language: English

Nothing is enough
 . . . . . . . . . .

— The rest of this text is not
currently in the database but will be
added as soon as we obtain it. —

Text Authorship:

by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943), "Nothing is enough", appears in The Augustan Books of Poetry: Laurence Binyon, first published 1926

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?. Strings in the earth [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Strings in the earth and air 
  Make music sweet; 
Strings by the river where 
  The willows meet. 

There's music along the river 
  [For Love wanders there,]¹
Pale [flowers]² on his mantle, 
  Dark leaves on his hair. 

All softly playing, 
  With head to [the]³ music bent, 
And fingers straying 
  Upon an instrument.

Text Authorship:

by James Joyce (1882 - 1941), appears in Chamber Music, no. 1, first published 1907

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

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Berio
² Coulthard: "flow'rs"
³ omitted by Coulthard

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 124