Gustav Holst: Six Songs (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Calm is the morn without a sound,
Calm as to suit a calmer grief,
And only thro' the faded leaf
The chestnut pattering to the ground:

Calm and deep peace on this high wold
And on these dews that drench the furze,
And all the silvery gossamers
That twinkle into green and gold:

Calm and still light on yon great plain
That sweeps with all its autumn bowers,
And crowded farms and lessening towers,
To mingle with the bounding main:

Calm and deep peace in this wide air,
These leaves that redden to the fall;
And in my heart, if calm at all,
If any calm, a calm despair:

Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,
And waves that sway themselves in rest,
And dead calm in that noble breast
Which heaves but in the heaving deep.

Input by Geoffrey Wieting

2. My true love hath my heart

Language: English

Authorship

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

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My true love hath my heart and I have his.
By just exchange, one [for]¹ the other given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a bargain better driven.

His heart in me keeps him and me in one;
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides.

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¹ Parry: "to"
Note: Parry has the first line repeated after each stanza.

Input by Ted Perry

3. Weep you no more

Language: English

Authorship

Anonymous/Unidentified Artist

^th

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

GER

German


Weep you no more, sad fountains;
What need [you]¹ flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
Heaven's sun doth gently waste!
But my sun's heavenly eyes
View not your weeping,
That now lies sleeping,
[Softly now, softly]² lies
Sleeping.

Sleep is a reconciling,
A rest that peace begets;
Doth not the sun rise smiling
When fair at [e'en]³ he sets?
Rest you, then, rest, sad eyes!
Melt not in weeping,
While she lies sleeping,
[Softly now, softly]² lies
Sleeping.

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¹ van Dieren: "ye"
² van Dieren, Holst: "Softly, now softly"
³ Parry: "eve"; Quilter, van Dieren: "even"; Holst: "ev'n"

Input by Ted Perry

4. Lovely kind, and kindly loving

Language: English

Authorship

Nicholas Breton (1542-1626)

Melancholic Humours

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Lovely kind, and kindly loving,
Such a mind were worth the moving;
Truly fair, and fairly true -
Where are all these but in you?

Wisely kind, and kindly wise;
Blessed life, where such love lies!
Wise, and kind, and fair, and true -
Lovely live all these in you.

Sweetly dear, and dearly sweet,
Blessed where these blessings meet,
Sweet, fair, wise, kind, blessed, true -
Blessed be all these in you!

5. Cradle song

Language: English

Authorship

William Blake (1757-1827)

Songs of Innocence and Experience

Songs of Innocence

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Sweet dreams, form a shade
O'er my lovely infant's head!
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams
By happy, silent, moony beams!

Sweet Sleep, with soft down
Weave thy brows an infant crown
Sweet Sleep, angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child!

Sweet smiles, in the night
Hover over my delight!
Sweet smiles, mother's smile,
All the livelong night beguile.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thine eyes!
Sweet moan, sweeter smile,
All the dovelike moans beguile.

Sleep, sleep, happy child!
All creation slept and smiled.
Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,
While o'er thee [thy]¹ mother weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face
Holy image I can trace;
Sweet babe, once like thee
Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:

Wept for me, for thee, for all,
When He was an infant small.
Thou His image ever see,
Heavenly face that smiles on thee!

Smiles on thee, on me, on all,
Who became an infant small;
Infant smiles are His own smiles;
Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.

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¹ Baxter: "doth"

6. Peace

Language: English

Authorship

Alfred Henry Hyatt


The toil of day is done,
Its stress and stirring cease,
Falls soft a word, the gift of God.
'Peace.'

Opal of evening sky,
Gold of the fading west,
A single star shining afar.
Rest.

Input by Geoffrey Wieting