En hiver and Printemps (from Six Chansons)
by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Text by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926):
—En Hiver—
En hiver, la mort meurtrière
entre dans les maisons;
elle cherche la soeur , la père,
et leur joue de violon.
Mais quand la terre remue,
sous la bêche du printemps,
la mort court dans les rues
et salue
les passants.
—In Winter—
In Winter, murderous Death
comes into the houses,
seeks out sister and father
and plays to them on the fiddle.
But when the earth turns
under Springtime’s spade
Death runs through the streets
and greets
the passers-by.
—Printemps—
O mélodie de la sève
qui dans les instruments
de tous ces arbres s’élève,
accompagne le chant
de notre voix trop brève.
C’est pendant quelques mesures
seulment que nous suivons
les multiples figures
de ton long abandon,
ô abondante nature.
Quand il faudra nous taire,
d’autre continueront …
Mais à présent comment faire
pour te rendremon grand coeur complémentaire?
—Spring—
O melody of the sap
that rises in the instruments
of all these trees,
accompany the song
of our too-short voices.
It is only for a few measures
that we follow
the manifold figurations
of your long abandon,
o abundant nature.
When it comes time for us to fall silent
others will carry on …
But for now what can I do to make
my whole heart a complement to you?
Alto hat Gott die Welt geliebt, SWV 380
by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
Text from The Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16 (trans. Martin Luther, 1522)
Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt,
daß er seinen eingebornen Sohn gab,
auf daß alle, die an ihn glauben,
nicht verloren werden,
sondern das ewige Leben haben.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish
but might have eternal life.
The Snow, op. 26, no. 1
by Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Text by Caroline Alice Elgar (1848-1920)
O snow, which sinks so light,
Brown earth is hid from sight
O soul, be thou as white as snow,
O snow, which falls so slow,
Dear earth quite warm below;
O heart, so keep thy glow
Beneath the snow.
O snow, in thy soft grave
Sad flow’rs the winter brave;
O heart, so sooth and save, as does the snow.
The snow must melt, must go,
Fast, fast as water flow.
Not thus, my soul, O sow
Thy gifts to fade like snow.
O snow, thou’rt white no more,
Thy sparkling too, is o’er;
O soul, be as before,
Was bright the snow.
Then as the snow all pure,
O heart be, but endure;
Through all the years full sure,
Not as the snow.
Three Madrigals
by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927)
Text by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
—Twelfth Night, II, ii—
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true love’s coming,
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Ev’ry wise man’s son doth know.
What is love? Tis not here after;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty,
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty!
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
—Measure for Measure, IV, i—
Take, O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again,
Seals of love, but seal’d in vain.
—Much Ado About Nothing, II, iii—
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more!
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore;
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting your sounds of woe.
Into hey nonny, nonny, hey!
Sing no more ditties, sing no moe,
of dumps so dull and heavy!
Fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting your sounds of woe.
Into hey nonny, nonny, hey!
Camptown Races
by Stephen Foster (1826-1864), arr. Jack Halloran (1916-1997)
I Can Tell the World
by Moses Hogan (1957-2003)