Dancers from Java (Symons, set by B. Martinů) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Twitched strings, the clang of metal, beaten drums,
  Dull, shrill, continuous, disquieting;
And now the stealthy dancer comes
  Undulantly with cat-like steps that cling;
 
Smiling between her painted lids a smile
  Motionless, unintelligible, she twines
Her fingers into mazy lines,
  Twining her scarves them all the while.
 
One, two, three, four step forth, and, to and fro,
  Delicately and imperceptibly,
Now swaying gently in a row,
  Now interthreading slow and rhythmically,
 
Still with fixed eyes, monotonously still,
  Mysteriously, with smiles inanimate,
With lingering feet that undulate,
  With sinuous fingers, spectral hands that thrill,
 
The little amber-colored dancers move,
  Like little painted figures on a screen,
Or phantom-dancers haply seen
  Among the shadows of a magic grove.

Authorship

Arthur Symons (1865-1945)

Silhouettes

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

Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)

Date added to the website: 2008-07-07.

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