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Catalog: Song Information: Page 17 of 83Please keep this site alive by contributing song listings and other information to the catalog. See the bottom of every catalog page for how. "Darest Thou Now, O Soul"Song not from a cycle or set
This entry contributed by G&K around 9/25/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Optional low F#3 and high F5. Although the tessitura is generally comfortable for low voices, the optional phrase with the F5 hangs quite high for a few measures. The music catches the mystical mood of the text quite well. The techniques Bacon used to portray a lack of guide or map or voice or hand or face particularly struck my ear. Extended piano postlude. Last half of song is piu mosso (from the original Andante sostenuto) and is filled with sweeping eight note gestures, which move eventually from the right hand to the left. Text Comments: Text (and song) is longish. Full text: Darest thou now, O soul, walk out with me tow'rd the unknown region, Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow? No map there nor guide, nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand, nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes are in that land. I know it not O soul, nor dost thou, all is a blank before us, all waits undreamed of in that region, that inaccessible land. Till when the ties loosen, all but the ties eternal Time and Space, nor darkness, gravitation, sense nor any bounds bounding us. Then we burst forth, we float in time and space. O soul, prepared for them, equal, equipt at last (O joy! O fruit of all.) Then to fulfil O soul! Recordings: unknown This entry contributed by G&K around 9/25/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "Das Schilf"Song 6 (extractable) from set Wasserabstieglieder
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98 Know this song? Add your review! Text Comments: (Translation) "Be still, he sleeps! still, still!" Dragonfly, stir your wings softly That their golden tissue makes no ringing sound, And, green plants of the riverbank, stand guard, Let not one small pebble drop down. He sleeps in the cloud's shadow, And overhead in rustling waves The leafy arch of the old trees; High above, where the sun glows, A bird rocks on the wing, Its shadow is pulled through the reflecting pond Like a darting little fish, Be still, still! a falling twig, Disturbed, has dropped From the linnet¹s hidden nest: Sh, sh! boughs, spread out your green blanket Sh, sh! now he is sleeping fast. This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "defeated in the fray"Song 2 (extractable) from set haiku
This entry contributed by G&K around 10/14/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: dotted quarter = 112-116. About 40 or 50 seconds. A rough, jangled sound to the militaristic piano part emphasizes the humor of the text. Piano part marked secco. More of a challenge interpretively than technically. Text Comments: About a tom-cat, defeated in love, who now fights merely for a mouse. Humorous. This entry contributed by G&K around 10/14/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "Der Weiher"Song 1 (extractable) from set Wasserabstieglieder
This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98
Know this song? Add your review! Text Comments: (Translation) It lies so quietly in the light of dawn, As peaceful as a pious conscience; When western winds its surface kiss The lakeshore¹s flower does not feel it; Dragonflies quiver above it, Little rods of blue-gold and carmine, And on the gleaming reflection of the sun The water-spider dances; A wreath of irises crowns the bank, Listening to the lullaby of the reeds; A gentle rustling comes and goes As if it whispered: Peace! Peace! Peace! This entry contributed by Andy Vores around 11/22/98. The contributor(s) composed the song. "Dirge for two veterans"Song 4 (not extractable) from set Drum Taps
This entry contributed by G&K around 12/9/98 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: to be annotated by composer Text Comments: The last sunbeam lightly falls from the finished Sabbath On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking Down a new-made double grave. Lo, the moon ascending, Up from the east the silvery round moon. Beautiful over the roof-tops, ghastly, phantom moon, Immense and silent moon. I see a sad procession, And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles, All the channels of the city are flooding, As with voices, and with tears. I hear the great drums pounding, And the small drums steady whirring. And every blow of the great convulsive drum strikes me through and through. For the son is brought with the father (In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell, Two veterans son and father dropt together And the double grave awaits them.) Now nearer blows the bugles, And the drums strike more convulsive, And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded, And the strong dead march enwraps me. O strong dead-march you please me! O moon immense with silvery face you soothe me! O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial! What I have I also give you. The moon gives you light, And the bugles and the drums give you music, And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, My heart gives you love. This entry contributed by G&K around 12/9/98. The contributor(s) looked over the song. "Displaced ("Song of the D.P.")"Song not from a cycle or set
This entry contributed by G&K around 5/9/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Slow moving chords, with some surprising, evocative harmonies. According to editor of Blitzstein anthology, "it tells the story of a woman returning from concentration camp by way of a displaced persons (D.P.) camp after World War II. In its reference to work, it recalls the perverse Nazi slogan: 'Arbeit macht frei.'" Text Comments: I remember running and running to my house With a sear of burning inside my eyes. Which was my house? That smoking doorway, lone and still, was my house! What I thought, what I did, where I ran, where I hid, I could not tell you, not begin. I think I just sat down in the doorway where my house had been. [2nd verse] I remember they took me on a long journey. Put me by a road near a darkened wood. Oh, my children! "Work" is a word we once found good, my children. This was work, work on work, break your back, and still work--Bitter work, never meant for men. And now I am home, children, make me find the joy of work again. See Marc Blitzstein: Songs (Sharp, Holvik, Blier) (Recordings) This entry contributed by G&K around 5/9/99. The contributor(s) heard the song. "Diva's Lament"Song not from a cycle or set
This entry contributed by 16 around 3/21/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments: Varied tempi, approx. 4 mins, lies quite low in the voice occasionally but still requires a good top c that you can crack at will! Needs a fairly high level of audience sophistication. Text Comments: Very amusing text, very tongue in cheek. Requires a good sense of humor i.e. I'm a diva who's over the hill, my butterfly's faded, my gilda is jaded, Pamina? she's been through the mill! etc,etc. This entry contributed by 16 around 3/21/99. The contributor(s) performed the song. "Don't Be Cross, Amanda"Song 1 (not extractable) from set Verses From Ogden Nash
This entry contributed by Robert Jordahl around 10/5/99 Know this song? Add your review! Music Comments:
This set makes a nifty encore. Both horn and piano kibutz where the need is obvious. Lots of fun for performers and audience. "Amanda" is a tango, the likes of which you've never heard!
Text Comments: All about tempermental Amanda. This entry contributed by Robert Jordahl around 10/5/99. The contributor(s) composed the song. Please contribute to the catalog
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