The Negro speaks of rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
And older than the flow of human blood in human veins
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young
I built my hut near the Congo and it lull'd me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the Pyramids above
I heard the singing of the Mississippi
When Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans
And I've seen its muddy bosom turn all godlen in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

by (James Mercer) Langston Hughes (1902-1967) , "The Negro speaks of rivers", from The Weary Blues, published 1926

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

by Gary Bachlund , "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", 2008. [low or medium voice and piano]
by Jean Berger (1909-2002) , "I've known rivers", published 1953. [men's chorus a cappella]
by Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) , "The Negro speaks of rivers", published 1942. [voice and piano; or SATB chorus and piano]
by Howard Swanson (1907-1978) , "The Negro speaks of rivers", published 1949. [low voice and piano]
by John Wesley Work, III (1901-1967) , "I've known rivers", published 1955. [SSAATTBB chorus a cappella]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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