Four Songs for High Voice and Piano

by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893 - 1976)

1. Bahnhofstrasse
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
The eyes that mock me sign the way
Whereto I pass at eve of day,

Grey way whose violet signals are
The trysting and the twining star.

Ah star of evil! star of pain!
Highhearted youth comes not again

Nor old heart's wisdom yet to know
The signs that mock me as I go.

Text Authorship:

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Bahnhofstrasse", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

First published in Anglo-French Review, August 1919
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Requiem

Language: English 
Take him, earth, for cherishing
 . . . . . . . . . .

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

Text Authorship:

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3. The time of roses  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
It was not in the Winter
  Our loving lot was cast;
It was the time of roses -
  We pluck'd them as we [pass'd]1!

[That]2 churlish season never frown'd
  On early lovers yet:
O no - the world was newly crown'd
  With flowers [when first we]3 met!

'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,
  But still you held me fast;
It was the time of roses -
  We pluck'd them as we pass'd!

Text Authorship:

  • by Thomas Hood (1799 - 1845), "Time of Roses", from Literary Souvenirs, first published 1827

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Confirmed with The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900, Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed., 1919.

1 Stöhr: "passed" (only here, not in stanza 3)
2 Stöhr: "The"
3 Arditti: "when we"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Since thou, O fondest and truest  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Since thou, O fondest and truest, 
Hast loved me best and longest, 
And now with trust the strongest 
The joy of my heart renewest ; 

Since thou art dearer and dearer 
While other hearts grow colder, 
And ever, as love is older, 
More lovingly drawest nearer : 

Since now I see in the measure 
Of all my giving and taking, 
Thou wert my hand in the making, 
The sense and soul of my pleasure; 

The good I have ne'er repaid thee 
In heaven I pray be recorded, 
And all thy love rewarded 
By God, thy master that made thee.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 224