Song Cycle by Frederick Delius (1862-1934)

1.

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "Moritura", from London Society, published 1887

A song of the setting sun!
The sky in the west is red,
And the day is all but done:
While yonder up overhead,
All too soon,
There rises, so cold, the cynic moon.

A song of a winter day!
The wind of the north doth blow,
From a sky that's chill and gray,
On fields where no crops now grow,
Fields long shorn
Of bearded barley and golden corn.

A song of a faded flower!
'Twas plucked in the tender bud,
And fair and fresh for an hour,
In a lady's hair it stood.
Now, ah! now,
Faded it lies in the dust and low.

2.

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , no title, from Verses, published 1896

 Cease smiling, Dear! a little while be sad,
 Here in the silence, under the wan moon.
 Sweet are thine eyes, but how can I be glad,
 Knowing they change so soon?

 O could this moment be perpetuate!
 Must we grow old, and leaden-eyed and gray
 And taste no more the wild and passionate
 Love sorrows of to-day?

 O red pomegranate of thy perfect mouth!
 My lips' life-fruitage might I taste and die,
 Here to thy garden, where the scented south
 Wind chastens agony;

 Reap death from thy live lips in one long kiss,
 And look my last into thine eyes and rest:
 What sweets had life to me sweeter than this
 Swift dying on thy breast?
 
 Or, if that may not be, for Love's sake, Dear!
 Keep silence still, and dream that we shall lie.
 Red mouth to mouth, entwined, and always hear
 The south wind's melody,

 Here in thy garden, through the sighing boughs,
 Beyond the reach of time and chance and change,
 And bitter life and death, and broken vows,
 That sadden and estrange.

3.

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "Autumnal", from Verses, published 1896

 Pale amber sunlight falls across
 The reddening October trees,
 That hardly sway before a breeze
 As soft as summer: summer's loss
 Seems little, dear! on days like these!

 Let misty Autumn be our part!
 The twilight of the year is sweet:
 Where shadow and the darkness meet.
 Our love, a twilight of the heart
 Eludes a little time's deceit.

 Are we not better and at home
 In dreamful Autumn, we who deem
 No harvest joy is worth a dream?
 A little while and night shall come,
 A little while, then, let us dream.

4. O Mors!

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "O Mors! Quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis", from Book of the Rhymers' Club, published 1892

Exceeding sorrow
Consumeth my sad heart!
Because to-morrow
We must depart,
Now is exceeding sorrow
All my part!

Give over playing,
Cast thy viol away,
Merely laying
Thine head my way:
Prithee, give over playing,
Grave or gay.

Be no word spoken;
Weep nothing: let a pale
Silence, unbroken
Silence prevail!
Prithee, be no word spoken,
lest I fail!

Forget tomorrow!
Weep nothing: only lay
In silent sorrow
Thine head my way!
Let us forget to-morrow
This one day.

5.

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900)

By the sad waters of separation
Where we have wandered by divers ways,
I have but the shadow and imitation
Of the old memorial days.

In music I have no consolation,
No roses are pale enough for me;
The sound of the waters of separation
Surpasseth roses and melody.

By the sad waters of separation
Dimly I hear from an hidden place
The sigh of mine ancient adoration:
Hardly can I remember your face.

If you be dead, no proclamation
Sprang to me over the waste, gray sea:
Living, the waters of separation
Sever for ever your soul from me.

No man knoweth our desolation;
Memory pales of the old delight;
While the sad waters of separation
Bear us on to the ultimate night.

6. In spring

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "In Spring", from Decorations, published 1899

See other settings of this text

See how the trees and the osiers lithe
Are green bedecked and the woods are blithe. 
The meadows have donned their cape of flowers, 
The air is soft with the sweet May showers, 
And the birds make melody: 
But the spring of the soul, the spring of the soul 
Cometh no more for you or for me.

The lazy hum of the busy bees 
Murmureth through the almond trees; 
'I'he jonquil flaunteth a gay, blonde head, 
The primrose peeps from a mossy bed, 
And the violets scent the lane. 
But the flowers of the soul, the flowers of the soul 
For you and for me bloom never again.

7.

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "Spleen", from Verses, published 1896

See other settings of this text

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.

8. Vitae summa

Authorship

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam", from Verses, published 1896

See other settings of this text

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have lie portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes,
Within a dream.

Search/Shop for

Sheet music:

  Search sheetmusicplus.com for Songs of Sunset, Art song , Lieder, chansons, or works for solo voice
  Search musicroom.com for Songs of Sunset, vocal/choral music

CDs:

  Search amazon.com for Songs of Sunset, art song, Lieder, or chansons
  Search amazon.ca for Songs of Sunset, art song, Lieder, or chansons

Books:

  The Art of the Song Recital [amazon.com]
  The Book of Lieder: The Original Texts of Over 1000 Songs [amazon.com]
  Search amazon.com for art song, Lieder, or chansons
  Search amazon.ca for art song, lieder, or chansons

Classical Vocal Repertoire