by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)
I heard the trailing garments of the...
Language: English
I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls! I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls! I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o'er me from above; The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love. I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold, soft chimes, That fill the haunted chambers of the Night Like some old poet's rhymes. From the cool cisterns of the midnight air My spirit drank repose; The fountain of perpetual peace flows there, -- From those deep cisterns flows. O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear What man has borne before! Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care, And they complain no more. Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer! Descend with broad-winged flight, The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair, The best-beloved Night!
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Text Authorship:
- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), "Hymn to the Night", appears in Voices of the Night, first published 1839 [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 Cecil Burleigh (1885 - 1980), "I heard the trailing garments of the night", op. 32 no. 4, published 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877 - 1921), "Hymn to the Night", published 1910 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Frank Donovan (1891 - 1970), "Hymn to the Night", published 1947 [ SSA chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard Farebrother , "Hymn to the Night" [ voice, piano, and violoncello ad libitum ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marianne Genet (1876 - ?), "Hymn to the Night", published 1934 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stephen Ralph Glover (1812 - 1870), "Hymn to the Night", published 1856-62 [ duet ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Lane , "A Hymn to the Night", published 1962 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961), "Hymn to the Night", op. 57 no. 1 (1997) [ high voice and piano ], from Six Songs on Poems by Henry W. Longfellow, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Charles MacFarlane (1870 - 1945), "Hymn to the Night", published 1933 [ tenor and four-part men's chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Hymn to the Night", op. 150 no. 9 (2008) [ baritone and piano ], from Elf Lieder nach Henry W. Longfellow, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by A. Barrington Orr , "Hymn to the Night" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Silas Gamaliel Pratt (1846 - 1916), "O Holy Night", published 1883 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis (Frank) Romer (1810 - 1889), "Beloved Night" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Clarence T. Steele , "I heard the trailing garments of the night", published 1892 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Stevens , "I heard the trailing garments of the night" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Eugene Ward (1917 - 2013), "Hymn to the Night", published 1979 [ soprano, baritone, mixed chorus, optional narrator, and orchestra ], from Fifth Symphony: Canticles of America, choral symphony [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Robert Wood (1915 - ?), "Hymn to the Night", 1957 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 152