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by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

Kreisler
Language: English 
Sell me a violin, mister, of old mysterious wood.
Sell me a fiddle that has kissed dark nights on the forehead where men kiss sisters they love.
Sell me dried wood that has ached with passion clutching the knees and arms of a storm.
Sell me horsehair and rosin that has sucked at the breasts of the morning sun for milk.
Sell me something crushed in the heartsblood of pain readier than ever for one more song.

Text Authorship:

  • by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), appears in Cornhuskers [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 Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "Kreisler", copyright © 2017 [ soprano and violin ], from The Violin Sings in a Common Language, no. 4, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-07-17
Line count: 5
Word count: 77

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