O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved?

Set by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved?" [ baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra ], from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 6  [sung text checked 1 time]

Note: this setting is made up of several separate texts.


O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved?
And how shall I deck my soul for the large sweet soul that has gone?
And what shall my perfume be [for]1 the grave of him I love?

Sea-winds blown from the east and west,
Blown from the Eastern sea and blown from the Western sea, [till there on the prairies meeting,
These and]2 with these [and the breath of my chant,]2
[I'll]3 perfume the grave of him I love.

Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Sessions: "to adorn"
2 omitted by Sessions
3 Sessions: "Will I"

Researcher for this text: Ahmed E. Ismail


O [what shall I hang on the chamber walls?
And]1 what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,
To adorn the burial-house of him I love?

Pictures of growing spring and farms and homes,
With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the gray smoke lucid and bright,
With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent, sinking sun, burning, expanding the air,
With the fresh sweet herbage under foot, and the pale green leaves of the trees prolific,
In the distance of the flowing glaze, the breast of the river, with a wind-dapple here and there,
With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky, and shadows,
And the city at hand with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys,
And all the scenes of life and the workshops, and the workmen homeward returning.

Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Sessions

Researcher for this text: Ahmed E. Ismail