Song Cycle by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884-1920)

1. So-fei gathering flowers

Authorship

by Charles Budd

a text in Chinese by Wang-Chang-Ling (698-765) [text unavailable]

In a dress of gauzy fabric
  Of the "Lien" leaf's emerald hue
So-fei glides among the lilies
  Sprinkled with the morning dew.

Rose-hued are the lotus blossoms,
  Rose-hued, too, the maiden's cheeks;
Is it So-fei's form I follow,
  Or the flowers she seeks?

Now I hear a song arising
  From the lotus bowers,
Which distinguishes the maiden
  From her sister flowers.

2. Landscape

Authorship

by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

a text in Japanese by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) [text unavailable]

Out across the wave all is bare,
  Not a scarlet leaf!
  Not a flower there!
Only over thatched huts falling brief,
Twilight, and the lonely autumn air.

3. The old temple among the mountains

Authorship

by Charles Budd

a text in Chinese by Chang Wen-Chang [text unavailable]

The temple courts with grasses rank abound,
And birds throng in the forest trees around!
But pilgrims few, though tablets still remain,
Come to the shrine while revolutions reign.
The mice climb through the curtains full of holes,
And thick dust overspreads the 'broidered stoles;
The temple pool in gloomy blackness lies,
To which the sleeping dragon sometimes hies.

4. Tears

Authorship

by Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (1872-1945) , "Tears", from A Lute of Jade, being selections from the classical poets of China, published 1909

a text in Chinese by Wang-Seng-Yu (6^th century) [text unavailable] GER

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High o'er the hill the moon barque steers.
   The lantern lights depart.
Dead springs are stirring in my heart;
      And there are tears. . . .
But that which makes my grief more deep
Is that you know not when I weep.

5. A feast of lanterns

Authorship

by Launcelot Alfred Cranmer-Byng (1872-1945) , "A feast of lanterns", from A Feast of Lanterns

a text in Chinese by Yüan Mei (1716-1797) [text unavailable]

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In spring for sheer delight
I set the lanterns swinging through the trees,
Bright as the myriad argosies of night
That ride the clouded billows of the sky.
Red dragons leap and plunge in gold and silver seas,
And O! my garden gleaming cold and white,
Thou hast outshone the far, faint moon on high.

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Classical Vocal Repertoire