The lamplighter (Stevenson, set by Ethel Crowningshield, Henry John Edwards, Sven Lekberg, Daniel Gregory Mason, Roger Quilter, Alec Rowley, Thomas Griffen Shepard, Eleanor Smith, Ronald Stevenson, John Brown Russell Whitfield, Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

The lamplighter

Language: English

Available translation(s): ITA

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight.

Authorship

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The lamplighter", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885 [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 Ethel Crowningshield , "The lamplighter", published 1910 [voice and piano], from Robert Louis Stevenson Songs [
text not verified
]
by Henry John Edwards (1854 - 1933), "The lamplighter", published 1913. [SATB chorus a cappella] [
text not verified
]
by Sven Lekberg (1899 - 1984), "The lamplighter", published 1959. [SATB chorus a cappella] [
text not verified
]
by Daniel Gregory Mason (1873 - 1953), "The lamplighter", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Five Children's Songs [
text not verified
]
by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "The lamplighter", op. 5 no. 2, published 1914 [voice and piano], from Four Child Songs, no. 2, Chappell [
text verified 1 time
]
by Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958), "The lamplighter", published <<1967. [unison chorus and piano] [
text not verified
]
by Thomas Griffen (Griffin?) Shepard (1848 - 1905), "The lamplighter", published 1901 [voice and piano], from A cycle of songs [
text not verified
]
by Eleanor Smith , "The lamplighter", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Song Pictures [
text not verified
]
by Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928), "The lamplighter", 1961 [medium voice and piano], from Four Robert Louis Stevenson Songs [
text not verified
]
by John Brown Russell Whitfield , "The lamplighter", published 1958. [unison chorus and piano] [
text not verified
]
by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (b. 1931), "The lamplighter", published 1968 [high voice and piano], from From a child's garden, no. 10. [
text verified 1 time
]

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

Researcher for this text: Ted Perry

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:01:50
Line count: 12
Word count: 139