by Joanna Baillie (1762 - 1851)
The Soldier in a foreign land
Language: English
The piper who sat on his low mossy seat, And piped to the youngsters so shrill and so sweet; The far distant hum of the children at play, And the maiden's soft carol at the close of the day. Ah! This was the music delighted my ear, And to think of it now is so sad and so dear! Ah! To listen at ease by my own cottage door, To the sound of my own native village once more! At night as I keep on the wearisome watch, The sound of the west wind I greedily catch, And the shores of dear Ireland then rise to my sight, And my own native valley, that land of delight. Divided so far by a wide stormy main, Shall I ever return to our valley again? Ah! To listen at ease by my own cottage door, To the sound of my own native village once more!
Authorship:
- by Joanna Baillie (1762 - 1851) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "The Soldier in a foreign land", WoO. 154 (12 Irische Lieder) no. 11, G. 225 no. 11, published 1812/3 [ voice, piano, violin, violoncello ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Pertz) , "Der Soldat in der Fremde"
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2005-09-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 153