Bernard Rands: Canti del sole (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)

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3. From "The Masque of the Twelve Months"

Language: English

Authorship

George Chapman (1559?-1634)

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 Shine out, fair Sun, with all your heat,
   Show all your thousand-coloured light!
 Black Winter freezes [to]¹ his seat;
   The grey wolf howls, he does so bite;
 Crookt Age on three knees creeps the street;
   The boneless fish close quaking lies
 And eats for cold his aching feet;
   The stars in icicles arise:

 Shine out, and make this winter night
 Our beauty's Spring, our Prince of Light!

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¹ omitted by Rands

4. From "Soleil et Chair"

Language: French

Authorship

Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)

Poésies

Soleil et Chair


Le Soleil, le foyer de tendresse et de vie,
Verse l'amour brûlant à la terre ravie,
Et, quand on est couché sur la vallée, on sent
Que la terre est nubile et déborde de sang ;
Que son immense sein, soulevé par une âme,
Est d'amour comme dieu, de chair comme la femme,
Et qu'il renferme, gros de sève et de rayons,
Le grand fourmillement de tous les embryons !

Et tout croît, et tout monte !

[ ... ]

5. Portami il girasole ch'io lo trapianti

Language: Italian

Authorship

Eugenio Montale (1896-1981)


Portami il girasole ch'io lo trapianti
 [ ... ]

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6. I turn the corner of prayer and burn

Language: English

Authorship

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)


I turn the corner of prayer and burn
 [ ... ]

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7. Sinisgalli

Language: Italian

Authorship

Anonymous/Unidentified Artist


Sono che calabroni
che saggiano la pera
vi affondano le corna.
Scavano un buco
fino a succhiarne la polpa.
Quando il sole si sposta.
Dalla parte de sole
cavano un altro occhio

Chiama la gente queste
le piante della sorte;
come piccoli teschi
pendono le zuccone
dagli alberi funesti.

8. Futility

Language: English

Authorship

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

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Move him into the sun -
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning, and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know. 

Think how it wakes the seed -
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved - still warm - too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break [earth's]¹ sleep at all?

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First published in Nation, 1918
¹ Rands: "the earth's"

9. September

Language: German

Authorship

Peter Huchel (1903-1981)


Noch nistet die Sonne im Duft
 [ ... ]

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10. November by the Sea

Language: English

Authorship

D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885-1930)


Now in November nearer comes the sun
 [ ... ]

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11. Fadensonnen

Language: German

Authorship

Paul Celan (1920-1970)

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über der grauschwarzen Ödnis
 [ ... ]

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12. Harmonie du soir

Language: French

Authorship

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)

Les Fleurs du Mal

Spleen et Idéal

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

ENG

English


Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige,
Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir,
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige.

Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir,
Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige,
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige,
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir;

Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige,
Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir;
Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige...

Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir,
Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige.
Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige, -
Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir.

13. Sunset Verse

Language: English

Authorship

D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence (1885-1930)


Leave off! Leave off! Leave off
 [ ... ]

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14. Ed è sùbito sera

Language: Italian

Authorship

Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968)


Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
 [ ... ]

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