Lieder – complete index
Lieder - index a:
1. "Five XVIth Century Poems"
a) A Thanksgiving
b) All in a garden green
c) An Aside
d) A Report Song
e) The Sweet Season
2. "Marigold"
a) Youth's Spring-Tribute
b) Penumbra
c) Spleen
3. "Mother and Child"
a) Newborn
b) The Only Child
c) Hope
d) Skylark and Nightingale
e) The Blind Boy
f) Baby
g) Death-parting
h) The Garland
4. "Songs of a Wayfare"
a) Memory
b) When daffodils begin to peer
c) English May
d) I was not sorrowful (Spleen)
5. "Songs Sacred and Profound"
a) The Advent
b) Hymn for a Child
c) My Fair
d) The Salley Gardens
e) The Soldier's Return
f) The Scapegoat
6. "The Land of Lost Conten"
a) The Lent Lily
b) Ladslove
c) Goal and Wicket
d) The Vain Desire
e) The Encounter
f) Epilogue
1.
"Five XVIth Century Poems"
Texts by William Cornish, Thomas Howell (fl. 1568-1581), Anonymous,
Nicholas Breton (1545? 1626?), and Richard Edwards (1523?-1566)
Music by John Ireland
a) A Thanksgiving
b) All in a garden green
c) An Aside
d) A Report Song
e) The Sweet Season
a) A
Thanksgiving
Text by William Cornish
Pleasure it is
To hear, iwis
The birdís sing.
The deer in the dale,
The sheep in the vale,
The corn springing.
God's purveyance
For sustenance
It is for man.
Then we always
To Him give praise,
And thank Him then,
And thank Him then.
b) All in a garden
green
Text by Thomas Howell (fl. 1568-1581)
Whenas the mildest month
Of jolly June doth spring,
And gardens green with happy hue
Their famous fruits do bring;
When eke the lustiest time
Reviveth youthly blood,
Then springs the finest featured flower
In border fair that stood.
Which moveth me to say,
In time of pleasant year,
Of all the pleasant flowers in June
The red rose hath no peer.
c) An Aside
Text by Anonymous
These women all
Both great and small
Are wavering to and fro,
Now here, now there,
Now everywhere;
But I will not say so.
So they love to range,
Their minds doth change
And make their friend their foe;
As lovers true
Each day they choose new;
But I will not say so.
They laugh, they smile,
They do beguile
As dice that men doth throw.
Who useth them much
Shall never be rich;
But I will not say so.
Some hot, some cold,
There is no hold
But as the wind doth blow;
When all is done,
They change like the moon;
But I will not say so.
So thus one and other
Taketh after their mother,
As cock by kind doth crow.
My song is ended,
The best may be amended;
But I will not say so.
d) A Report Song
Text by Nicholas Breton (1545?-1626?)
Shall we go dance the hay, the hay?
Never pipe could ever play
Better shepherd's roundelay.
Shall we go sing the song, the song?
Never Love did ever wrong.
Fair maids, hold hands all along.
Shall we go learn to woo, to woo?
Never thought came ever to
Better deed could better do.
Shall we go learn to kiss, to kiss?
Never heart could ever miss
Comfort, where true meaning is.
Thus at base they run, they run
When the sport was scarce begun.
But I waked, and all was done.
e) The Sweet
Season
Text by Richard Edwards (1523?-1566)
When May is in his prime, then may each heart rejoice.
When May bedecks each branch with green, each bird strains forth his
voice
The lively sap creeps up into the blooming thorn.
The flowers, which cold in prison kept, now laugh the frost to scorn.
All nature's imps triumph while joyful May doth last;
When May is gone, of all the year the pleasant time is past.
May makes the cheerful hue, May breeds and brings new blood.
May marcheth throughout every limb, May makes the merry mood.
May prieketh tender hearts their warbling notes to tune.
Full strange it is, yet some we see do make their May in June.
Thus things are strangely wrought while joyful May doth last;
Take May in time, when May is gone the pleasant time is past.
All ye that live on earth, and have your May at will
Rejoice in May, as I do now, and use your May with skill.
Use May while that you may, for May hath but his time
When all the fruit is gone, it is too late the tree to climb.
Your liking and your lust is fresh while May doth last;
When May is gone, of all the year the pleasant time is past.
2.
"Marigold"
Texts by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and Ernest Dowson
(1867-1900)
Music by John Ireland
a) Youth's Spring-Tribute
b) Penumbra
c) Spleen
a) Youth's
Spring-Tribute
Text by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
On this sweet bank your head thrice sweet and dear
I lay, and spread your hair on either side,
And see the newborn woodflowers bashful-eyed
Look through the golden tresses here and there.
On these debateable borders of the year
Spring's foot half falters; scarce she yet may know
The leafless blackthorn-blossom from the snow.
And through her bowers the wind' s way still is clear.
But April's sun strikes down the glades to-day;
So shut your eyes upturned and feel my kiss
Creep, as the Spring now thrills through every spray,
Up your warm throat to your warm lips: for this
Is even the hour of Love's sworn suitservice,
With whom cold hearts are counted castaway.
b) Penumbra
Text by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
I did not look upon her eyes,
(Though scarcely seen, with no surprise,
'Mid many eyes a single look),
Because they should not gaze rebuke
At night, from stars in sky and brook.
I did not take her by the hand
(Though little was to understand
From touch of hands all friends might take),
Because it should not prove a flake
Burnt in my palm to boil and ache.
I did not listen to her voice,
(Though none had noted, where at choice
All might rejoice in listening)
Because no such a thing should cling
In the wood's moan at evening.
They told me she was sad that day,
(Though wherefore tell what love's soothsay,
Sooner than.they, did register?)
And my heart leapt and wept to her,
And yet I did not speak nor stir.
So shall the tongues of the sea's foam
(Though many voices therewith come
From drowned hope's home to cry to me),
Bewail one hour the more, when sea
And wind are one with memory.
c) Spleen
Text by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900), after Paul Verlaine
(1844-1896) (original French)
Around were all the roses red
The ivy all around was black.
Dear, so thou only move thine head,
Shall all mine old despairs awake!
Too blue, too tender was the sky,
The air too soft, too green the sea.
Always I fear, I know not why,
Some lamentable flight from thee.
I am so tired of holly-sprays
And weary of the bright box-tree,
Of all the endless country ways;
Of everything alas! save thee.
3.
"Mother and Child"
Text by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Nursery Rhymes from Sing Song
Music by John Ireland
a) Newborn
b) The Only Child
c) Hope
d) Skylark and Nightingale
e) The Blind Boy
f) Baby
g) Death-parting
h) The Garland
a) Newborn
Your brother has a falcon,
Your sister has a flower.
But what is left for mannikin,
Born within an hour?
I'll nurse you on my knee, my knee,
My own little son;
I'll rock you, rock you, in my arms,
My least little one.
b) The Only
Child
Crying, my little one, footsore and weary?
Fall asleep, pretty one, warm on my shoulder:
I must tramp on through the winter night dreary,
While the snow falls on me, colder and colder.
You are my one, and I have not another;
Sleep soft, my darling, my trouble and treasure;
Sleep warm and soft, in the arms of your mother,
Dreaming of pretty things, dreaming of pleasure.
c) Hope
I dug and dug amongst the snow,
And thought the flowers would never grow;
I dug and dug amongst the sand,
And still no green thing came to hand.
Melt, o snow! the warm winds blow
To thaw the flowers and melt the snow;
But all the winds from every land
Will rear no blossom from the sand.
d) Skylark
and Nightingale
When a mounting skylark sings
In the sunlit summer morn,
I know that heaven is up on high,
And on earth are fields of corn.
But when a nightingale sings,
In the moonlit summer even,
I know not if earth is merely earth,
Only that heaven is heaven.
e) The
Blind Boy
Blind from my birth,
Where flowers are springing
I sit on earth
All dark.
Hark! hark!
A lark is singing,
His notes are all for me.
For me his mirth:
Till some day I shall see
Beautiful flowers
And birds in bowers
Where ail joy-bells are ringing.
f) Baby
Love me, - I love you,
Love me, my baby;
Sing it high, sing it low,
Sing it as may be.
Mother's arms under you,
Her[e?] eyes above you;
Sing it high, sing it low,
Love me, - I love you.
g)
Death-parting
"Good-bye in fear, good-bye in sorrow,
Good-bye, and all in vain,
Never to meet again, my dear" -
"Never to part again."
"Good-bye today, good-bye tomorrow,
Good-bye till earth shall wane,
Never to meet again, my dear" -
"Never to part again."
h) The
Garland
Roses blushing red and white,
For delight;
Honeysuckle wreaths above,
For love:
Dim sweet-scented heliotrope,
For hope:
Shining lilies tall and straight,
For royal state;
Dusky pansies, let them be
For mernory;
With violets of fragrant breath,
For death.
4.
"Songs of a Wayfare"
Texts by William Blake, William Shakespeare, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and
Ernest Dowson
Music by John Ireland
a) Memory
b) When daffodils begin to peer
c) English May
d) I was not sorrowful (Spleen)
a) Memory
Text by William Blake (1757-1827)
Memory, hither come
And tune your merry notes;
And while upon the wind
Your music floats,
I'll pore upon the stream,
Where sighing lovers dream,
And fish for fancies as they pass
Within the watery glass.
I'll drink of the clear stream,
And hear the linnet's song,
And there I'll lie and dream
The day along;
And when night comes I'll go
To places fit for woe,
Walking along the darkened valley,
With silent melancholy.
b) When
daffodils begin to peer
Text by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), from The
Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3
When daffodils begin to peer -
With heigh! The doxy over the dale -
Why, then comes the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge -
With heigh! The sweet birds, O how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,
With heigh! with heigh! The thrush and the jay,
Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
While we lie tumbling in the hay.
[But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?
The pale moon shines by night:
And when I wander here and there,
I then do most go right.
Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.]
c) English May
Text by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Would God your health were as this month of May
Should be, were this not England, - and your face
Abroad, to give the gracious sunshine grace
And laugh beneath the budding hawthorn-spray.
But here the hedgerows pine from green to grey
While yet May's lyre is tuning, and her song
Is weak in shade that should in sun be strong;
And your pulse springs not to so faint a lay.
If in my life be breath of Italy,
Would God that I might yield it all to you!
So, when such grafted warmth had burgeoned through
The languor of your Maytime's hawthorn-tree,
My spirit at rest should walk unseen and see
The garland of your beauty bloom anew.
d) I was not
sorrowful (Spleen)
Text by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900)
I was not sorrowful, I could not weep,
And all my memories were put to sleep.
I watched the river grow more white and strange,
All day till evening I watched it change.
All day till evening I watched the rain
Beat wearily upon the window pane
I was not sorrowful, but only tired
Of everything that ever I desired.
Her lips, her eyes, all day became to me
The shadow of a shadow utterly.
All day mine hunger for her heart became
Oblivion, until the evening came,
And left me sorrowful, inclined to weep,
With all my memories that could not sleep.
5.
"Songs Sacred and Profound"
Texts by Alice Meynell (1847-1922), Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978),
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Music by John Ireland
a) The Advent
b) Hymn for a Child
c) My Fair
d) The Salley Gardens
e) The Soldier's Return
f) The Scapegoat
a) The Advent
Text by Alice Meynell (1847-1922)
Rorate Coeli desuper, et nubes pluant Justum.
Aperiatur Terra, et germinet Salvatorem.
No sudden thing of glory and fear
Was the Lord's coming; but the dear
Slow Nature's days followed each other
To form the Saviour from his Mother
one of the children of the year.
The earth, the rain, received the trust,
The sun and dews, to frame the Just.
He drew his daily life from these.
According to his own decrees
Who makes man from the fertile dust.
Sweet summer and the winter wild,
These brought hirn forth, the Undefiled.
The happy Springs renewed again
His daily bread, the growing grain,
The food and raiment of the Child.
b) Hymn for a
Child
Text by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978)
Flocking to the Temple
See the priests assemble
Where a child expounds
What the wise confounds.
All the scribes and sages
Quit their dog's-eared pages;
Spell-bound by his sense
And his eloquence.
Speaking without bias,
He reviewed Elias;
Said the dogs did well,
Eating Jezebel.
Just as he disposes
Of the Law and Moses,
Mary came in haste -
Caught him to her breast:
`We have sought thee' saying -
Chid him for delaying.
Then without demur
He went back with her.
Those he was amazing
Straightway broke out praising;
Calling him a mild
Nicely brought-up child.
Teach me, gentle Saviour,
Such discreet behaviour
That my elders be
Always pleased with me.
c) My Fair
Text by Alice Meynell (1847-1922)
My Fair, no beauty of thine will last
Save in my love's eternity.
Thy smiles, that light thee fitfully,
Are lost for ever - their moment past -
Except the few thou givest to me.
Thy sweet words vanish day by day,
As all breath of mortality.
Thy laughter, done, must cease to be,
And all the dear tones pass away,
Except the few that sing to me.
Hide then within my heart, oh, hide
All thou are loth should go from thee.
Be kinder to thyself and me.
My cupful from this river's tide
Shall never reach the long sad sea.
d) The Salley
Gardens
Text by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Also set by
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)
Down by the salley gardens
My love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens
With little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy,
As the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish,
With her would not agree.
In a field by the river
My love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder
She laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy,
As the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish,
And now am full of tears.
e) The Soldier's
Return
Text by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978)
Jump through the hedge, lass!
Run down the lane!
Here's your soldier-laddie
Come back again.
Coming over the hill
With the sunset at his back -
Never be feared, lass
Though he look black;
Coming through the meadow
And leaping the watercourse -
Never be feared, lass,
Though his voice be hoarse;
Belike he's out of breath
With walking from the town.
He will speak better
When the sun's gone down.
f) The Scapegoat
Text by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978)
See the scapegoat, happy beast,
From every personal sin released,
And in the desert hidden apart,
Dancing with a careless heart.
"Lightly weigh the sins of others."
See him skip! "Am I my brother's
Keeper? O never, no, no, no!
Lightly come and lightly go!"
In the town, from sin made free,
Righteous men hold jubilee.
In the desert all alone
The scapegoat dances on and on.
6. "The
Land of Lost Conten"
Texts by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936), from A Shropshire Lad
Music by John Ireland
a) The Lent Lily
b) Ladslove
c) Goal and Wicket
d) The Vain Desire
e) The Encounter
f) Epilogue
a) The Lent Lily
Text also set by other composers
'Tis spring; come out to ramble
The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.
And there's the windflower chilly
With all the winds at play,
And there's the Lenten lily
That has not long to stay
And dies on Easter Day.
And since till girls go maying
You find the primrose still,
And find the windflower playing
With every wind at will,
But not the daffodil.
Bring baslkets nw, and sally
Upon the spring's array,
And bear from hill and valley
The daffodil away
That dies on Easter Day.
b) Ladslove
Text also set by other composers.
Look not in my eyes, for fear
They mirror true the sight I see,
And there you find your face too clear
And love it and be lost like me.
One the long nights through must lie
Spent in star-defeated sighs,
But why should you as well as I
Perish? Gaze not in my eyes.
A Grecian lad, as I hear tell,
One that many loved in vain,
Looked into a forest well
And never looked away again.
There, when the turf in springtime flowers,
With downward eye and gazes sad,
Stands amid the glancing showers
A jonquil, not a Grecian lad.
c) Goal and
Wicket
Text also set by other composers.
Twice a week the winter thorough
Here stood I to keep the goal:
Football then was fighting sorrow
For the young man's soul.
Now in Maytime to the wicket
Out I march with bat and pad:
See the son of grief at cricket
Trying to be glad.
Try I will; no harm in trying:
Wonder 'tis how little mirth
Keeps the bones of man from lying
On the bed of earth.
d) The
Vain DesireDTH="560" HEIGHT="11">
If truth in hearts that perish
Could move the powers on high,
I think the love I bear you
Should make you not to die.
Sure, sure, if stedfast meaning,
If single thought could save,
The world might end tomorrow,
You should not see the grave.
This long and sure-set liking,
This boundless will to please,
- Oh, you should live for ever
If there were help in these.
But now, since all is idle,
To this lost heart be kind,
Ere to a town you journey
Where friends are ill to find.
e) The Encounter
Text also set by other composers.
The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.
My man, from sky to sky's so far,
We never crossed before;
Such leagues apart the world's ends are,
We're like to meet no more.
What thoughts at heart have you and I
We cannot stop to tell;
But dead or living, drunk or dry,
Soldier, I wish you well.
f)
Epilogue
You smile upon your friend today,
Today his ills are over;
You hearken to the lover's say,
And happy is the lover.
'Tis late to hearken, late to smile,
But better late than never;
I shall have lived a little while
Before I die for ever.
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