by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Translation by William Bliss Carman (1861 - 1929)
There is a medlar tree
Language: English after the Aeolic Greek
There is a medlar tree Growing in front of my lover's house, And there all day The wind makes a pleasant sound. And when the evening comes, We sit there together in the dusk, And watch the stars Appear in the quiet blue.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Bliss Carman, Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics, Boston: L.C. Page and Company, 1904, Page 23.
Text Authorship:
- by William Bliss Carman (1861 - 1929), no title, appears in Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics, no. 19 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Burge (b. 1961), "There is a medlar tree", 1983 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (James) Albert Mallinson (1870 - 1946), "There is a medlar-tree", published 1907 [ voice and piano ], from Lieder songs; The songs of Sappho from fragments of the lost poems of Sappho, no. 3, London : Frederick Harris co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mary Elizabeth Turner Salter (1856 - 1938), "There is a medlar tree", published 1985 [ medium voice and piano ], from Lyrics from Sappho, no. 3, Huntsville, Tex. : Recital Publications. [sung text not yet checked]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 43