Introduction

At last count, 66,136 texts are associated with musical settings in this collection. Of these, 26,405 are empty because they have not yet been located, and are left as placeholders for cross-referencing; and 3,443 exist in the database but are hidden due to copyright restrictions, leaving 36,288 visible to visitors. Whenever possible, first lines (incipits) are shown for texts that are hidden or missing.

This website was created in May, 1995 by Emily Ezust, and is offered as a free public service.
Emily can be reached at the following address:

Note

Dear visitors, This project is not funded. I work on it in my spare time. The REC Music Foundation has generously given me server-space, but I have many costs in maintaining and expanding the website. So if you find the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your gift is greatly appreciated!      - Emily I also have a wishlist at Amazon.ca.

This site can be reached at the following URLs:

• www.lieder.net
• www.recmusic.org/lieder/
  • [this is actually the real name; the other is a shortcut]

I add new texts all the time; please see the What's New page for details.

Submissions are welcome, especially translations of the texts already in the collection. Please notify me before you start work on something substantial, so that we can make sure that no two people are working on the same text.

The REC Music Foundation deserves our warmest thanks for giving the archive a semipermanent home on its server free of charge.

Notes About the Collection

• Scope and Goal of the Project. The primary goal of this project is to collect and present the texts to pieces commonly referred to in English- and French-speaking musical communities as "Lieder" or the much broader term "art songs". This includes everything from simple (and often silly) parlor songs of the past to serious and esoteric works. They can be in any language. They can be for one or more voices, and the accompaniment need not be piano only. The main requirement for inclusion is that the pieces are typically performed by classically-trained musicians.

  The secondary goal of this project is to provide visitors with translations of the texts into as many languages as possible.

  I have recently begun to include partsongs, madrigals, and choral works in the collection. I do not plan to include entire opera libretti, masses, or oratorios (although you may find arias and some short cantatas here).

• The indexes are not necessarily comprehensive so if something is not listed, do not assume it does not exist. I add titles whenever I find them. If I don't have the text, I'll just list the title along with the name of the poet in parentheses if I know it.

• FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

• Copyright Notice - disclaimers, etc. This applies to the entire site and contains important information for people who wish to use the data here.

• All texts have been input by me (Emily Ezust), unless otherwise stated. Here is a list of 819 generous volunteers who have submitted translations and/or texts (THANK YOU!!).

• Searching the collection. The search is not case-sensitive, and you may use diacritics to search or not, as you like: "schön" can be found with "schon".

• Titles. The title of a song is the one chosen by the composer. If I know the title the poet chose for the text, I include it next to the poet's name, but if there is nothing there, please do not assume the titles are always the same. When the headline of a text is in italics, it means one of two things: either the text was set under several different titles (possibly by different composers) or the text was not given a title by the composer (usually this happens when the text is part of a song cycle). If the text was set under different titles, the titles can be found next to the composer names, with the rest of the available song information (opus/catalog number, date of composition, and/or date of publication).

• Translations. In this collection you will find only translations that I've written myself, translations that I have explicit permission by the copyright-holder to reprint, or translations in the public domain. Please do not submit translations unless they fit the last two criteria.
  • Language of translations. I will post any (good) translation to any language that is submitted to me. When someone requests a translation, I will try to find a volunteer to do it if I can't do it myself.

    The languages of available translations of a song text are identified by three-letter language codes with a blue background, e.g., ENG or GER. You can find the abbreviations on the Languages page.

  • Translation style. Most of the translations are close to literal and meant only as an aid for understanding the original language, while a few attempt to capture some of the original's rhythm or rhyme. Based on user feedback, it seems that most people find the former the most useful, so my own translations lean to the literal. Every now and then we are lucky enough to have a skilled translator who can provide a good singable translation.

  • Translation copyrights. If you wish to use any of the translations, please contact the author(s) directly. If contact information is available it will show up beside the name of the translator(s). You may use any translations by Emily Ezust for student recital program notes without asking permission, provided the following credit is given:
             Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
             from The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive,
                 http://www.lieder.net/

• Transliteration. The texts are all in ISO Latin 1 with HTML entities such as ß, ø, å and é, with some Unicode characters for Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish. Russian texts have been transliterated into lower ASCII but can be viewed in Cyrillic (Unicode) at the click of a link.

  Note that names of Russian poets and composers do not use the strict transliteration scheme; for example, rather than "Chajkovskij", the more familiar North-American-style "Tchaikovsky" is used.

• Alphabetization. Throughout these pages, alphabetization will follow North American English convention, even in transliterated indexes.

• Poet Indexes: In the indexes by poet, the first lines of poems are distinguished by italics and the titles of poems (assigned either by the composer or by the poet) are given in normal text. If the first line is too short to be helpful, I will often append the next line as well for added ease of identification.

• Indexes by first line and by title: These alphabetic listings follow the same conventions as the poet indexes do.

• Dates. In these pages, years are indicated with the following conventions and abbreviations, illustrated by example:
  
  • (fl. 1545-1550). "fl" indicates that a poet or composer flourished in that range.
  • (c1500-1561). "c" indicates "circa", an approximation.
  • (-1933). Indicates that the year of birth is unknown.
  • (1933-). Indicates that the composer or poet is either still alive or that the year of death is unknown.
  • (1444/5-1527). "/" indicates "or".
  • (1609?-1567?8). The question marks indicate that there is a question of the year's accuracy.
  • 1456>>. Indicates that the year was sometime after 1456.
  • 1456+. Indicates that the year was sometime after 1456. (I'm phasing this notation out)
  • <<1956. Indicates that the year was sometime before 1956.
  • 189-?. Indicates the year is thought to be sometime in the 1890s.

  When possible, dates of composition and publication are indicated. Year of composition is generally given in parentheses following a catalogue or opus listing, or just alone after a comma. Year of publication is generally given followed by the word "published". For example:
                Franz Schubert (1797-1828), "Gretchens Bitte", D. 564 (1817), published 1838.

• Sources. The bibliography does not cover the entire collection, as many of the texts come from CD booklets, the internet, and volunteers. If a text is indicated to have been set by many different composers, the text will follow that of the most well-known versions. Where possible, variations in the texts are noted (whether from the original poem or from other composers' versions).

  Here is a list of the universities whose music libraries I have visited and used with gratitude for this project:

  University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
  McGill University, Montréal, Québec
  UC Berkeley, California
  UC Davis, California
  University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  University of Toronto, Ontario
  University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
  University of Chicago, Illinois
  Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
  University of Maryland
  
  Other libraries:
  Ottawa Public Library, Ontario (Interlibrary Loans Department)
  Mid-Manhattan Library, New York
  National Library of Canada: Music Division, Ottawa, Ontario
  National and University Library of Iceland
  
  Other resources:
  Canadian Music Centre