Thou hast thy calling to some...

Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor,
Most gracious singer of high poems! where
The dancers will break footing, from the care
Of watching up thy pregnant lips for more.
And dost thou lift this house's latch too poor
For hand of thine? and canst thou think and bear
To let thy music drop here unaware
In folds of golden fulness at my door?
Look up and see the casement broken in,
The bats and owlets builders in the roof!
My cricket chirps against thy mandolin.
Hush, call no echo up in further proof
Of desolation! there's a voice within
That weeps... as thou must sing... alone, aloof.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 4, published 1847

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Frederic Balazs (1920-) , "Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor", published 1960 [high voice and string quartet or chamber orchestra], from Sonnets after Elizabeth Barrett Browning, no. ?
by Celius Dougherty (1902-1986) , "Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor", 1975 [soprano and piano], from Eglantine and Ivy, no. ?
by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor", published 1907 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 4.
by Oskar Morawetz (1917-) , "Sonnet IV: Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor", 1955 [high voice and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 2.

by Egon Joseph Wellesz (1885-1974) , "Du bist da drüben im Palast begehrt", published 1935 [soprano and string quartet], from Sonette der Elisabeth Barret-Browning [sic], no. ?

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Du bist da drüben im Palast begehrt

Du bist da droben im Palast begehrt,
erlauchter Sänger lauterer Gedichte,
wo Tänzer stillstehn, deinem Angesichte
und deinem Munde durstend zugekehrt.
Und es gefällt dir, dieser dürftigen Tür
Griff anzurühren? Ist es auszuhalten,
daß deiner Fülle Klang in goldnen Falten
vor eine Türe fällt, zu arm dafür?
Sieh die zerbrochnen Fenster. Fledermaus
und Eule baun im Dach. Und meine Grille
zirpt gegen deine Mandoline. Stille.
Das Echo macht noch trauriger das Haus,
drin eine Stimme weint, so wie die deine
da draußen singen muß ... allein, alleine.

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) , no title, from Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen, no. 4, published 1908

a text in English by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 4, published 1847

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Egon Joseph Wellesz (1885-1974) , "Du bist da drüben im Palast begehrt", published 1935 [soprano and string quartet], from Sonette der Elisabeth Barret-Browning [sic], no. ?

Date added to the website: 2004-05-04.