Texts and Translations

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Piercing Eyes
Music by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Text by Anonymous
Why asks my fair one if I love?
Those eyes so piercing bright
Can ev'ry doubt of that remove,
And need no other light.
Those eyes full well do known my heart,
And all its working see,
E'er since they play'd the conq'ror's part,
And I no more was free.
She Never Told Her Love
Music by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Text by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), from Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 4 (1602)
She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm in the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek...
She sat, like Patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief.
Sailor's Song
Music by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Text by Anne Hunter (1742-1821)
High on the giddy bending mast
The seaman furls the rending sail,
And, fearless of the rushing blast,
He careless whistles to the gale.
Rattling ropes and rolling seas,
Hurlyburly, hurlyburly,
War nor death can him displease.
The hostile foe his vessel seeks,
High bounding o'er the raging main,
The roaring cannon loudly speaks,
‘Tis Britain's glory we maintain.
Rattling ropes and rolling seas,
Hurlyburly, hurlyburly,
War nor death can him displease.
T’intendo, sì, mio cor
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Text by Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
T'intendo, sì, mio cor,
Con tanto palpitar!
So che ti vuoi lagnar,
Che amante sei.
Ah! taci il tuo dolor,
Ah! soffri il tuo martir
Tacilo, tacilo e non tradir
L'affetti miei, l'affetti miei!
I hear you, oh my heart
I hear you, oh my heart,
beating so hard!
I know you want to plead
Your love.
Ah! Ignore your pain,
Ah! Take your burden
Be silent, be silent don't betray
My feelings, my feelings!
L’amante impaziente I (arietta buffa) and
L'amante impaziente II (arietta assai seriosa)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Text by Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
Che fa, che fa il mio bene?
Perchè, perchè non viene?
Vedermi vuole languir
Così, così, così!
Oh come è lento nel corso il sole!
Ogni momento mi sembra un dì,
Che fa, che fa il mio bene?
Perchè, perchè non viene?
Vedermi vuole languir
Così, così, così!
The Impatient Lover (I & II)
What is my darling doing?
Perhaps she will not come?
She likes to see me pine away
Like this...
How slowly the sun runs its course,
Every second's like a day.
What is my darling doing?
Perhaps she will not come .... ?
She likes to see me pine away
Like this ...
(Translation: Uri Liebrecht)
Joaquín Nin y Castellanos (1879-1949)
From “20 Cantos Populares Españoles”
Texts by anonymous
Alma, sintamos!
Alma, sintamos! Ojos, llorar!
A mi Caramba que murió ya!
Ay pobrecita!
Toda bondad, que no tenía pecado venial.
Soul, let us suffer!
Soul, let us suffer! Eyes, cry!
Oh Caramba, she is dead!
Oh, my poor lass, so kind!
She did not know a mortal sin!
Minué cantado
Si de Amarilis los ojos disparan
flechas que hieren con dulce rigor
De qué le sirve a Cupido la aljaba?
Para qué quiere Amor el arpón?
Minuet in Song
If Amaryllis’ eyes shoot their arrows,
sweetly wounding the heart,
What good is Cupid’s quiver
and why should Love require a dart?
El Jilguerito con pico de oro
El jilguerito con pico de oro,
Canta sonoro todo es trinar
Ah! Canta sonoro y todo es trinar.
Cruza la selva de rama en rama
Y a la que ama buscando va.
The Little Linnet with Golden Beak
The little linnet with his golden beak sings
loudly, trilling all the while.
He crosses the forest from
branch to branch,
searching for the one he loves.
L’invitation au Voyage
Music by Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
Text by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
Mon enfant, ma sœur,
Songe à la douceur
D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble,
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble.
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.
Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
Vois sur ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l'humeur est vagabonde;
C'est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde.
Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs,
Les canaux, la ville entière,
D'hyacinthe et d'or;
Le monde s'endort
Dans une chaude lumière!
Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
Invitation to the Voyage
My child, my sister
think of the sweetness
of going there to live together!
To love at leisure,
to love and to die
in a country that is the image of you!
The misty suns
of those changeable skies
have for me the same
mysterious charm
as your fickle eyes
Shining through their tears.
There, all is harmony and beauty,
luxury, calm and delight.
See how those ships,
nomads by nature,
are slumbering in the canals.
To gratify
your every desire
they have come from the ends of the earth.
The setting suns
clothe the fields,
the canals, and the town
with reddish-orange and gold.
The world falls asleep
bathed in warmth and light.
There, all is harmony and beauty,
luxury, calm and delight.
(Translation: Peter Low)
Extase
Music by Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
Text by Henri Cazalis (1840-1909)
Sur un lys pâle mon coeur dort
D'un sommeil doux comme la mort
Mort exquise, mort parfumée
Du souffle de la bien aimée ...
Sur ton sein pâle mon coeur dort
D'un sommeil doux comme la mort...
Ecstasy
On your pale breast my heart is sleeping
A sleep as sweet as death
Exquisite death, death perfumed
By the breath of the beloved
On your pale breast my heart is sleeping
A sleep as sweet as death.
(Translation: Richard Stokes)
Chanson triste
Music by Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
Text by Henri Cazalis (1840-1909)
Dans ton cœur dort un clair de lune,
Un doux clair de lune d'été,
Et pour fuir la vie importune,
Je me noierai dans ta clarté.
J'oublierai les douleurs passées,
Mon amour, quand tu berceras
Mon triste cœur et mes pensées
Dans le calme aimant de tes bras.
Tu prendras ma tête malade,
Oh! quelquefois, sur tes genoux,
Et lui diras une ballade
Qui semblera parler de nous;
Et dans tes yeux pleins de tristesse,
Dans tes yeux alors je boirai
Tant de baisers et de tendresse[s]
Que peut-être je guérirai.
Sad song
Moonlight slumbers in your heart,
A gentle summer moonlight,
And to escape the cares of life
I shall drown myself in your light.
I shall forget past sorrows,
My sweet, when you cradle
My sad heart and my thoughts
In the loving calm of your arms.
You will rest my poor head,
Ah! sometimes on your lap,
And recite to it a ballad
That will seem to speak of us;
And from your eyes full of sorrow,
From your eyes I shall then drink
So many kisses and so much love
That perhaps I shall be healed.
(Translation: Richard Stokes)
Ach Lieb, ich muß nun scheiden
Music by Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Text by Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn (1834-1912)
Ach Lieb, ich muß nun scheiden,
gehn über Berg und Tal,
die Erlen und die Weiden,
die weinen allzumal.
Sie sahn so oft uns wander
zusammen an Baches Rand,
das eine ohn' den andern
geht über ihren Verstand.
Die Erlen und die Weiden
vor Schmerz in Tränen stehn,
nun denket, wie's uns beiden
erst muß zu Herzen gehn.
Alas, my love, I must now part
Alas, my love, I must now part from you
and go beyond the mountain and valley;
the alders and the willows
are weeping all the while.
They watched us wander so often
together by the edge of the brook;
The sight of one of us without the other
will surpass their understanding.
O alders and willows,
standing weeping with pain,
just think now how we
must feel in our hearts!
(Translation: Emily Ezust)
Freundliche Vision
Music by Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Text by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865-1910)
Nicht im Schlafe hab' ich das geträumt,
Hell am Tage sah ich's schön vor mir:
Eine Wiese voller Margeritten;
Tief ein weißes Haus in grünen Büschen;
Götterbilder leuchten aus dem Laube.
Und ich geh' mit Einer, die mich lieb hat,
Ruhigen Gemütes in die Kühle
Dieses weißen Hauses, in den Frieden,
Der voll Schönheit wartet, daß wir kommen.
A pleasant vision
I did not dream this while asleep;
I saw it fair before me in the light of day:
A meadow full of daisies,
a white house deep in green bushes,
images of gods gleaming from the leaves.
And I walk with one who loves me,
in a peaceful mood in the coolness
of this white house, in which peace
awaits our arrival, full of beauty.
(Translation: Emily Ezust)
Zueignung
Music by Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Text by Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg (1812-1864)
Ja, du weißt es, teure Seele,
Daß ich fern von dir mich quäle,
Liebe macht die Herzen krank,
Habe Dank.
Hielt ich nicht, der Freiheit Zecher,
Hoch den Amethysten-Becher,
Und du segnetest den Trank,
Habe Dank.
Und beschworst darin die Bösen,
Bis ich, was ich nie gewesen,
Heilig an das Herz dir sank,
Habe Dank.
Dedication
Yes, you know it, dearest soul,
How I suffer far from you,
Love makes the heart sick,
Have thanks.
One I, drinker of freedom,
Held high the amethyst beaker,
And you blessed the drink,
Have thanks.
And you exorcised the evils in it,
Until I, as I had never been before,
Blessed, blessed sank upon your heart,
Have thanks.
(Translation: Lawrence Snyder)
Three Spirituals
The Lord's Prayer, arranged by Max Saunders
On ma journey, arranged by Roland Hayes
This little light of mine, arranged by John W. Work III & Robert A. Harris