Riches I hold in light esteem (Brontë, set by J. Henry Bove, John Woods Duke, Robert Owens, Thomas Pasatieri) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

Riches I hold in light esteem

Language: English

Riches I hold in light esteem,
  And Love I laugh to scorn;
And lust of fame was but a dream
  That vanish'd with the morn;

And if I pray, the only prayer
  That moves my lips for me
Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear,
  And give me liberty!"

Yes, as my swift days near their goal,
  'T is all that I implore:
In life and death a chainless soul,
  With courage to endure.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

by Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848), "The old stoic", from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, first published 1846 [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 J. Henry Bove (1897 - 1963), "Riches I hold in light esteem", published <<1940. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "The old stoic", 1970, published 1977 [medium voice and piano], from Six Songs on Poems by Emily Brontë, no. 5, Southern/NY [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "The old stoic", op. 18 no. 1 [low voice and piano], from 3 Songs for a Deep Voice and Piano, no. 1. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "The old stoic", 2003 [voice and piano], from A rustling of angels, no. 11. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Text added to the website: 2007-12-06 00:00:00
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:01:49
Line count: 12
Word count: 75