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.
A Miscellany of Love Songs
Song Cycle by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)
1. Strings in the earth and air  [sung text not yet checked]
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):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 omitted by Berio
2 Coulthard: "flow'rs"
3 omitted by Coulthard
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day  [sung text not yet checked]
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: [Sometime]1 too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to [time thou growest]2: [So long]3 as men [can]4 breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 18
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 18, first published 1857
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title, appears in Œuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 18, first published 1863
- GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Reinhold Walesrode) , first published 1840
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dovrei paragonarti ad un giorno d'estate?", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky) , "Сонет 18", written 1914
1 Wilkinson: "Sometimes"
2 Aikin: "times thou grow'st"
3 Wilkinson: "As long"
4 Aikin: "shall"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
3. Love me not for comely grace  [sung text not yet checked]
[Love not me for comely grace]1, For my pleasing eye [or]2 face, Nor for any outward part, [No, nor for my]3 constant heart: For [these]4 may [fail]5 or turn to ill, So [thou]6 and I shall sever: Keep, therefore, a true [woman's]7 eye, And love me still but know not why; So [hast thou]8 the same reason still To [doat upon]9 me ever!
Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Baxter: "Love me not for comely grace"
2 Baxter: "or my pleasing"
3 Baxter: "Nor for a"
4 Head, Wilbye: "those"
5 Wilbye: "fade"
6 Baxter: "you"
7 Baxter: "lover's"
8 Baxter: "you have"
9 Baxter: "dote on"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Spring, the sweet spring  [sung text not yet checked]
Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king; Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The palm and may make country houses gay, Lambs frisk and play, the [shepherds pipe]1 all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes our ears do greet, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! Spring! The sweet Spring!
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Nashe (1567 - 1601), appears in Summer's Last Will and Testament, first published 1600
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Frühling", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Argento: "shepherd pipes"
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
5. Two Epigrams: Antiquary. Manliness. [sung text not yet checked]
Note: this is a multi-text setting
If in his study he hath so much care To hang all old strange things, let his wife beware.
Text Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Antiquary", appears in Epigrams
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]Thou call'st me effeminat, for I love womens joyes I call not thee manly, though thou follow boyes.
Text Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631)
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]6. Be music, night  [sung text not yet checked]
Be music, night [ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- by Kenneth Patchen (1911 - 1972), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.7. Do me that love
— This text is not currently
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as soon as we obtain it. —
Text Authorship:
- by Kenneth Patchen (1911 - 1972), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.8. How instant joy
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Text Authorship:
- by Robert Penn Warren (1905 - 1989), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.9. From Love: Two Vignettes. Titled Mediterranean Beach: Day after Storm
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Text Authorship:
- by Robert Penn Warren (1905 - 1989), copyright ©
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This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.