Cantata da Requiem - WW II Poems for Peace (originally titled Voices of Women in Wartime)

Song Cycle by Gloria Coates (b. 1938)

1. Aria: Junge Witwe
 (Sung text)

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Die Räume wurden mir zu eng
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

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2. Recitative: BBC Weather Report
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Temperatures have soared to
Almost summer levels
Making conditions ideal for
Bombing offensives.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, a BBC weather report

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Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

3. Aria: The Flying Bombers; ideas and thoughts of Phyllis McGinley in 1942
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
Through the air, beyond the breeze
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Gloria Coates (b. 1938), a paraphrase, copyright © [an adaptation]

Based on:

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4. Rezitativ: Brief der Lehrerin Elfriede Birndorfer
 (Sung text)

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Ein paar Zeilen, die ich gelesen habe
 [ ... ]

Text Authorship:

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5. Aria: Rinne, Regen, Rinne; aus einer bayerischen Zeitung von 1943
 (Sung text)

Language: German (Deutsch) 
Rinne, Regen, rinne
Auf den Sand und
Auf die Steine
Rinne allerwegen
Und weine.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, from a 1943 Bavarian newspaper

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Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

6. Aria: All These Dyings; thoughts of Marianne Moore from In Distrust of Merits, 1942
 (Sung text)

Language: English 
All the world is an orphans home
Can there never be peace
Without bitter sorrow?
Without plaintive cries from the dying,
The cries for help that never come?
Oh still and quiet form upon the
Ageless dust,
I cannot look upon thy face and yet
I must!
If all these great dyings,
The endless agonies and
Bleeding wounds and
Aching hearts can
Teach us how to live in peace
Then all these dyings,
All these sorrows were
Not in vain.

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Inspired by stanza 6 of Thomas Moore's In Distrust of Merits.


Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
Total word count: 325