At the mid hour of night, when stars are weeping, I fly
To the lone vale we loved, when life shone warm in thine eye;
  And I think oft, if spirits can steal from the regions of air
  To revisit past scenes of delight, thou wilt come to me there,
And tell me our love is remember'd even in the sky.
 
Then I sing the wild song [it once was rapture to hear]1,
When our voices commingling breathed like one on the ear;
  And as Echo far off through the vale my sad orison rolls,
  I think, O my love! 'tis thy voice from the Kingdom of Souls
Faintly answering still the notes that once were so dear.	

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ in another edition of Moore, "'twas once such pleasure to hear!" (this edition also changes "loved" to "lov'd" and "breathed" to "breath'd"

Text Authorship:

• by Thomas Moore (1779 - 1852), "At the mid hour of night", appears in Irish Melodies, 5th No., first published 1813 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in English from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
  • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Hubert Bath (1883 - 1945), "At the mid hour of night", <<1921 [ reciter, piano, organ, 2 violins, and 2 cellos ], from Four Musical Illustrations for Piano [sung text not yet checked]
• by Maurice Blower (1894 - 1982), "At the mid hour of night", published 1965 [ SSA chorus and piano ], London: Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
• by Herman Brearly , "At the mid hour of night", published <<1974 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], London: Bosworth & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "At the mid hour of night" [ voice and piano ], arrangement [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Frederic Hymen Cowen, Sir (1852 - 1935), "At the mid hour of night", published 1898 [ voice and piano ], from Third Set of Six Songs, London: Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ella Ivimey , "At the mid hour of night" [ voice and piano ], London: Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gregory W. Kosteck (b. 1937), "At the mid-hour", 1965, copyright © 1968 [ SA chorus a cappella ], from Refrains and Canons [sung text not yet checked]
• possibly by Edward Lawrence (b. 1836), "At the mid hour of night", published 1883 [ voice and piano ], London: Lucas & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hamish MacCunn (1868 - 1916), "At the mid hour of night", published c1890 [ voice and piano ], from Album of Six Songs, London: Paterson's Publications Ltd. [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "At The Mid Hour Of Night", op. 471 (1956) [sung text not yet checked]
• by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "At the mid hour of night", 1934 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jack Meredith Tatton (1901 - 1970), "At the mid hour of night", published 1946 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], Cincinatti: Willis [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "At the mid hour of night", 1886, published 1927 [ high voice and piano ], from Five Songs for High Voice, no. 4, London: Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "À l'heure de la minuit", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-10
Line count: 10
Word count: 120

A l’hora de mitjanit quan ploren les estrelles, jo volo
vers la vall solitària que havíem estimat, quan la vida brillava càlida als teus ulls;
i penso sovint que si els esperits es poden escapar de les regions de l’aire
per tornar a visitar antigues escenes de delícia, tu vindràs a veure’m allà,
i em diràs que el nostre amor és recordat fins i tot al cel.

Llavors cantaré la cançó salvatge que abans t’embadalia
quan les nostres veus a l’uníson eren com una de sola a les orelles;
i mentre l’Eco al lluny escampa la meva trista oració a través de la vall,
jo penso, oh amor meu! Que és la teva veu que arriba del Regne de les Ànimes
responent imperceptiblement encara les notes que abans ens eren tan estimades.