I taste a liquor never brewed (Dickinson, set by Clarence Dickinson, John Woods Duke, Rudolf Escher, Arthur Farwell, William Dabney Gettel, Gordon Getty, Nick Peros, Betty Roe, William Sydeman, Robert E. Ward, Adolf Weiss) (The LiederNet Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

I taste a liquor never brewed

Language: English

Available translation(s): FRE GER

I taste a liquor never brewed,
From tankards scooped in pearl;
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!

Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue.

When landlords turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove's door,
When butterflies renounce their drams,
I shall but drink the more!

Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
And saints to windows run,
To see the little tippler
Leaning against the sun!

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [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 Clarence Dickinson (1873 - 1969), "I taste a liquor never brewed", published 1897 [voice, piano], from Six Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "I taste a liquor never brewed", 1975 [soprano and piano], from Four Poems by Emily Dickinson, no. 4, Southern/Texas [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Rudolf Escher (1912 - 1980), "I taste a liquor never brewed", 1955, published 1956 [mixed chorus of 7-10 voices], from Songs of Love and Eternity, no. 6. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Arthur Farwell (1872 - 1952), "The little tippler", op. 105 no. 6. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by William Dabney Gettel (b. 1913), "I taste a liquor never brewed" [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Gordon Getty (b. 1933), "I taste a liquor never brewed" [soprano and piano], from The White Election - A Song Cycle for soprano and piano on 32 poems of Emily Dickinson, Part 1 : The Pensive Spring, no. 7. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Nick Peros , "I taste a liquor never brewed" [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "I taste a liquor", published 1999 [duet for soprano and baritone with piano], from Delight, no. 3. [ sung text checked 1 time]
by William Sydeman (b. 1928), "I taste a liquor never brewed", published 1970 [soprano or tenor and violoncello], from Three Songs after Emily Dickinson [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Robert E. Ward (b. 1917), "Intoxication", published 1966 [soprano and orchestra or piano], from Sacred Songs for Pantheists, no. 3. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Adolf Weiss (1891 - 1971), "I taste a liquor", 1928, published c1930 [soprano and string quartet], from Seven Songs for Soprano and String Quartet, no. 7. [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Last modified: 2016-05-04 19:35:41
Line count: 16
Word count: 83