Tell me, [thou Star]1, whose wings of light Speed thee in thy fiery flight, In what cavern of the night Will thy pinions close now? Tell me, Moon, thou pale and grey Pilgrim, of Heav'ns homeless way, In what depth of night or day, Seekest thou repose now? Weary wind, who wanderest Like the world's rejected guest Hast thou still some secret nest On the tree or billow?
C. Ives sets stanzas 1-2
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Ives: "Star"
Text Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The world's wanderers", first published 1824 [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 Creighton Allen (1900 - 1969), "The world's wanderers", published 1954, from Shelley Songs, Cycle of Ten Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "The world's wanderers", published 1937 [ SCTB chorus or SCTB quartet a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Florence Newell Barbour (1867 - 1946), "Tell me thou wanderers", published 1921 [ voice and piano ], from Six Song Pictures, no. 3, Boston, A. P. Schmidt [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Blower (1894 - 1982), "Tell me, thou star", published 1955 [ SA chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Star, moon, and wind", published 1967 [ SATB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by T. P. Carter , "The world's wanderers", 1918 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (1876 - 1906), "Tell me, thou Star", 1900 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "The world's wanderers", 1895, stanzas 1-2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Clarence Lucas (1866 - 1947), "The world's wanderers" [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Christian Preezmann (1822 - 1893) ; composed by Magda Bugge, Peter Arnold Heise.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Augusta Guidetti ; composed by Giorgio Federico Ghedini.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Poutníci světa"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 70
Rci, hvězdo, jež tvých křídel jas
v let zářný žene dál a zas,
sluj noci kde jest, v které as
svá křídla zavíráš?
Rci, měsíci, jenž spěješ bled
a pustou drahou nebes šed,
tůň dne či noci, kde jest, v sled
kam spat se ubíráš?
Mdlý větře, jehož bloudí sten,
jak host ze světa vyvržen,
na stromech, vlnách, pověz jen,
zda tajné hnízdo máš?
Confirmed with Moderní básníci angličtí (1700—1800), translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha : Jos. R. Vilímek, vyd. okolo 1900, pages 213–214.
Text Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Poutníci světa" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "The world's wanderers", first published 1824
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 64