Palma, 28 Dec 1838 Imagine me, between rocks and sea, in a cell in an immense, deserted monastery, it's doors bigger than the coach entrance to any Paris mansion. Here I am with my hair uncurled, no white gloves, and as pale as usual. My cell, shaped like a great coffin, has a vast and dusty arched ceiling, and a little window looking to the garden with its orange trees, palms and cypresses. Opposite the window, below a rosette in the lacy Moorish style, is a camp-bed. Beside the bed is an old untouchable, a kind of square desk, on which stands a wax candle...on the same desk, Bach, my scribbles, and other papers, not mine...(....and the orange trees, palms and cypresses...) Silence... If you shout...silence again... In short I am writing from a very strange place...
Letters from Composers
Song Cycle by Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019)
1. Frédéric Chopin to a friend  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in Unknown Language by Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. W A Mozart to his father  [sung text checked 1 time]
Vienna, 9 Jun 1781 Well, Count Arco has managed things to perfection! So that is the way to persuade people, to win them over, to refuse petitions out of congenital stupidity, not to say a word to your master for lack of spirit and love of sycophancy, to keep a man hanging about for four weeks and at last, when he is obliged to present the petition himself, instead of arranging for his admittance, to throw him out and give him a kick in the pants... I wrote three petitions, handed them in five times, and each time had them thrown back at me...and since the Archbishop was planning to leave on the next day, I was quite beside myself with rage and wrote another petition, in which I disclosed to him that I had had a petition in readiness for the past four weeks! With that petition I received my discharge in the most gallant way. So seeing the reasons why I left him no father could be angry with his own son.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Franz Schubert to a friend  [sung text checked 1 time]
Vienna, 31 Mar 1824 My brightest hopes have come to nothing, the joys of friendship and love soon turn to sorrows, and even my pleasure in beauty itself is in danger of dying away! "Meine Ruh' ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer;" thus sang Gretchen at her spinning wheel. So might I now sing every day, for every night I got to bed hoping that I shall not wake again, and each morning only brings back all the sorrows and grief of the day before. "Meine Ruh' ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer;" thus sang Gretchen at her spinning wheel. And so I spend my days, joyless and friendless.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), no title
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Note: the friend is Kupelwieser, in Rome.Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. J S Bach to the Town Council  [sung text checked 1 time]
Leipzig, 24 Aug 1736 Magnificent, most honourable gentlemen, our wise and learned councilors, distinguished Lords and Patrons, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... . May it please you to condescend to hear how Herr Johannes Fredrich Eitelwein, a merchant in the town of Leipzig, was married on the twelfth of August of the present year out of town, and therefore thinks himself entitled to withhold the fees due us in all such cases, and has made bold to disregard our many kind reminders. Where as the said fees make up the greater part of our emoluments, a perquisite of this position and no one has hitherto endeavoured to withhold from us our lawful share. We therefore feel compelled to beg you, honoured Lords and Gracious Patrons for this reason to take us under your protection and by your decision to uphold us in our old right and agreed Salario, and further to enjoin upon the said Herr Eitelwein that he remit to us a due proportion of the foresaid marriage fees, together with the costs occasioned, in this instance, which we also claim, with all respect and reverence. Magnificent and honourable gentlemen, most wise and learned councilors, distinguished Lords and Patrons, from your most humble and devoted servant, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]5. Claude Debussy to a friend  [sung text checked 1 time]
Le Molleau, 3 Dec 1916 I go on with this waiting life, waiting-room life, I might say, for I am a poor traveler waiting for a train that will never come again. They tell me it's the morphine! No! Something is broken in this strange mechanism that used to be my brain. Who's to blame? Perhaps this miserable war that loses some of its nobility with every passing day. Who's to blame? It was stupid enough to trust the Bulgarians. But it's even worse to trust the Greeks for anything! And good King George looks like a hawker of lead pencils with no lead in them. Of course, rumors spread like weeds. Everyone appoints a new commander-in-chief every morning. It's like a hunchback changing his tailor in hope that the new one will be able to conceal his hump......and after all, what does it matter?
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]6. Giacomo Puccini to a friend  [sung text checked 1 time]
Paris 10 May 1898 I am sick of Paris! I am sick of panting for the fragrant wood, for the free movement of my belly in wide trousers and no waistcoat; I pant, I pant after the wind that blows free and fragrant from the sea; I savor with wide flaring nostrils its salty breath, and stretch my lungs to breathe it all! I hate pavements! I hate palaces! I hate capitals! I hate columns of marble! I love the beautiful column of poplar and fir; I love the vault of shady glades; I love the green expanse of cool shelter in forest old or young; I love the blackbird in flight; I love the woodpecker, seagull, and lark! I hate the horse, the cat and the toy dog! I hate the steamer, the top hat, the dress coat, and I hate Paris!
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in Italian (Italiano) by Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]7. Robert Schumann to his fiancée  [sung text checked 1 time]
Leipzig, 3 Jun 1839 The most certain thing is still that we continue to love each other with all our hearts and I feel sure that in your heart there is a rich fund of love, and you will make your husband happy for a long, long time. You are a wonderful girl, Klara! There is such a host of varied and beautiful qualities in you that I will never know how you have managed to bring them all together during your short life. But there is one thing I know, Klara, and that is: I believe you would have been a very different girl if you had never met me at so early a stage and been impressed by my gentle way. Leave me this belief, it makes me happy. I taught you to love, [...] and drew you close, to be the ideal bride as I imagined her; you were my most gifted pupil, and as my reward you said to me: "Well, then, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me!"
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), no title
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]