Come to me in the silence of the night (Rossetti) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)

Come to me in the silence of the night

Language: English

Available translation(s): GER

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years. 

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose [wakening]¹ should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where [thirsting]² longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more. 

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!

J. Coulthard sets stanzas 1, 3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Zaimont: "waking"
² Zaimont: "thirsty"
Note: the text inspired the orchestral work "Symphonic Rhapsody" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1904

Authorship

by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Echo", written 1854 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Johan Backer-Lunde (1874 - 1958), "Echo", op. 38 no. 3. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "Echo", 1906. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ernest Bullock, Sir (1890 - 1979), "Echo", published 1954. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Ling Chao Chen (b. 1959), "Echo" [baritone and instrumental ensemble] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Larry A. Christiansen (b. 1941), "Echo", published 1964. [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Frederick Shepherd Converse (1871 - 1940), "Echo" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Jean Coulthard (1908 - 2000), "Echo", stanzas 1,3 [voice and piano], from Christina Songs, no. 3. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "Come to me, my love", published 1973. [satb chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Richard Bruce Faith (b. 1926), "Echo" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Edward C. Harris (1899 - ?), "Echo" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by William Hawley (b. 1950), "Echo", first performed 1995 [SSAATTBB chorus a cappella], from Four Reveries, no. 1. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Come to me", 1903. [satb chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Bruno Siegfried Huhn (1871 - 1950), "Echo" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Lori Laitman (b. 1955), "Echo" [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Theophile-Jules-Henri Marzials (1850 - 1920), "Come back in dreams", published 1908. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by John Musto (b. 1954), "Echo", from Recuerdo, no. 1. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Echo", 2003 [voice and piano], from A rustling of angels, no. 10. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Frederick Piket (1903 - 1974), "Echo", published 1957 [SSAA chorus a cappella], from The Speaking Silence [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Harold William Rhodes (1889 - 1956), "Echo", published 1925. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Howard Rovics (b. 1936), "Echo", 1964-5. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by John Charles Sacco (1905 - 1987), "Echo", published 1975. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by John Patrick Somers-Cocks (1907 - 1995), "Echo", 1959. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Henry (Richard Charles) Somerset, Lord (1849 - 1932), "Echo", published 1895. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "Echo" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by William Wolstenholme (1865 - 1931), "Echo", first performed 1903. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "Echo", 1866. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Judith Lang Zaimont , "Entreaty", from Greyed Sonnets: Five Serious Songs, no. 5. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Douglas William Alfred Zanders (b. 1918), "Echo", 1952. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 128