Recital: Anthony León '21 MM, Tenor

Im Abendrot

O wie schön ist deine Welt,
Vater, wenn sie golden strahlet!
Wenn dein Glanz herniederfällt,
Und den Staub mit Schimmer malet;
Wenn das Rot, das in der Wolke blinkt,
In mein stilles Fenster sinkt! 

Könnt' ich klagen, könnt' ich zagen?
Irre sein an dir und mir?
Nein, ich will im Busen tragen
Deinen Himmel schon allhier.
Und dies Herz, eh' es zusammenbricht,
Trinkt noch Glut und schlürft noch Licht.

Karl Gottlieb Lappe

At dusk

O how beautiful is your world,
Father, when she shines with golden beams! When your gaze descends
And paints the dust with a shimmering glowing,
When the red, which flashes in the clouds,
Sinks into my quiet window! 

How could I complain, how could I be afraid? How could anything ever be amiss between you and me?
No, I will carry in my breast
Your Heaven for all times.
And this heart, before it breaks down,
Shall drink in the glow and the light.

Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/

Nacht und Träume

Heil'ge Nacht, du sinkest nieder;
Nieder wallen auch die Träume,
Wie dein Mondlich durch die Räume
Durch der Menschen stille Brust;
Die belauschen sie mit Lust,
Rufen, wenn der Tag erwacht:
Kehre wieder holde Nacht,
Holde Träume kehret wieder.

Matthäus von Collin

Night and Dreams

Holy night, you sink down;
Dreams, too, drift down
Like your moonlight through space,
Through the quiet hearts of men;
They listen with delight
Calling out when day awakens:
Return, holy night!
Fair dreams, return! 

Translation copyright © by David Gordon. Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive --https://www.lieder.net/

Le disparu

Je n'aime plus la rue Saint-Martin
Depuis qu'André Platard l'a quittée,
Je n'aime plus la rue Saint-Martin,
Je n'aime rien, pas même le vin.

Je n'aime plus la rue Saint-Martin
Depuis qu'André Platard l'a quittée.
C'est mon ami, c'est mon copain,
Nous partagions la chambre et le pain.
Je n'aime plus la rue Saint-Martin.

C'est mon ami, c'est mon copain.
Il a disparu un matin,
Ils l'ont emmené, on ne sait plus rien,
On ne l'a plus revu dans la rue Saint-Martin.

Pas la peine d'implorer les saints,
Saint Merry, Jacques, Gervais et Martin,
Pas même Valérien qui se cache sur la colline.

Le temps passe, on ne sait rien,

André Platard a quitté la rue Saint-Martin.

Robert Desnos

He Has Disappeared

I don't like the Rue Saint-Martin any more,
not since André Platard left it.
I don't like the Rue Saint-Martin any more.
There's nothing I like, not even wine. 

I don't like the Rue Saint-Martin any more, 
not since André Platard left it.
He's my friend, he's my buddy.
We shared a room, we shared our food.
I don't like the Rue Saint-Martin any more.

He's my friend, he's my buddy.
One morning he disappeared.
They took him away, and we've heard nothing since.
He's not been seen again in the Rue Saint-Martin.

It's not worth praying to the saints
Saint Merri or Saint Jacques, Saint Gervais or Martin,
or even Valérien who hides up on the hill.

Time passes. We know nothing.

André Platard has left the Rue Saint-Martin.

Translation copyright © by Peter Low.  Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive -https://www.lieder.net/

Bleuet

Jeune homme de vingt ans qui as vu des choses
si affreuses
Que penses-tu des hommes de ton enfance
Tu connais la bravoure et la ruse,
Tu as vu la mort en face plus de cent fois

tu ne sais pas ce que c'est que la vie
Transmets ton intrépidité à ceux qui viendront après toi  

Jeune homme tu es joyeux, ta mémoire est ensanglantée
Ton âme est rouge aussi de joie
Tu as absorbé la vie de ceux qui sont morts près de
toi
Tu as de la décision
Il est 17 heures et tu saurais mourir
Sinon mieux que tes aînés
Du moins plus pieusement
Car tu connais mieux la mort que la vie
Ô douceur d'autrefois, lenteur immémoriale.

Guillaume Apollinaire

New recruit

Young man of twenty, who has seen such               horrible things,
what do you think about the men of your childhood?
You know bravery and cunning. 
You’ve seen death face to face more than a hundred times
and you don’t know what life is.
Pass on your boldness to those who come after you.


Young man, you are joyful but your memory is bloody.

Your soul is stained red with joy.
You have absorbed the life of those who died beside you.
You are decisive.
It’s five o’clock in the afternoon and you will how to die,
if not better than your elders,
at least more piously
because you know death better than life.
Ah, sweetness of the past, immemorial   slowness.

Translation copyright © by Faith J. Cormier. Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive --https://www.lieder.net

Priez pour paix

Priez pour paix Doulce Vierge Marie
Reyne des cieulx et du monde maîtresse
Faictes prier par vostre courtoisie
Saints et Saintes et prenez vostre adresse
Vers vostre Fils Requerant sa haultesse
Qu'il Lui plaise son peuple regarder
Que de son sang a voulu racheter
En déboutant guerre qui tout desvoye
De prières ne vous vueillez lasser
Priez pour paix, priez pour paix
Le vray trésor de joye. 

Charles, Duc d’Orléans

Pray for Peace

Pray for peace, sweet Virgin Mary,
Queen of Heaven and mistress of the world.
In your courtesy,
have the saints pray too, and address
your Son, begging His Highness
to deign to look on His people,
whom He redeemed with His blood,
and to banish war which destroys all.
Do not weary of our prayers.
Pray for peace, pray for peace,
 the true treasure of joy. 

Translation copyright © by Faith J. Cormier. Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive --https://www.lieder.net/

Un' aura amorosa

Un' aura amorosa
Del nostro tesoro
Un dolce ristoro
Al cor porgerà; 

Al cor che, nudrito
Da speme, da amore,
D’un esca migliore
Bisogno non ha.

Lorenzo da Ponte

A Breath of Love

A breath of love
From our treasures
Will bring our hearts
A sweet refreshment.

A heart nourished
On the hope of love
Has no need
Of greater sustenance. 

Translation by Anthony León

Nunca olvida… 

Ya que este mundo abandono,
Ántes de dar cuenta á Dios,
Aquí para entre los dos,
Mi confesion te diré:
 -- Con toda el alma perdono
Hasta á los que siempre he odiado;
¡Á tí, que tanto te he amado,
Nunca te perdonaré!

Ramón de Campoamor

Never forget…

Now that I abandon this world,
before rendering account to God,
I will tell you my confession here,
face-to-face.
I pardon with all my soul
even those people I have always hated.
As for you, whom I have loved so much,
I will never forgive you! 

Translation copyright © by Andrew Schneider. Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive --https://www.lieder.net/

Cantares

Más cerca de mí te siento
Cuanto más huyo de tí,
Pues tu imágen es en mí
Sombra de mi pensamiento. 

Vuélvemelo hoy a decir,
Pues, embelesado, ayer
Te escuchaba sin oír,
Y te miraba sin ver.

Ramón de Campoamor

Songs

I feel closer to you
The more I run from you,
For your image haunts
The very shadow of my thoughts.

Tell me again,
For yesterday I was spellbound:
I heard you without listening
And I looked at you without seeing. 

Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, reprinted with permission from the LiederNetArchive --https://www.lieder.net/

Los dos miedos

Al comenzar la noche de aquel día,
ella, lejos de mí,
-- ¿Por qué te acercas tanto?
-- Me decía; -- ¡Tengo miedo de tí! - 

Y después que la noche hubo pasado
dijo, cerca de mí:  --
¿Por qué te alejas tanto de mi lado?
¡Tengo miedo sin tí! -

Ramón de Campoamor

The Two Fears

At the beginning of the night that day,
She, far away, said to me,
Why are you moving so close to me?
I am afraid of you.

And after the night had passed
She said, close to me:  
Why are you going away from my side?
I am afraid without you!

Translation copyright © by Garret Medlock. Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive --https://www.lieder.net/.

Las locas por amor 

-- "Te amaré, diosa Venus, si prefieres
que te ame mucho tiempo y con cordura."
Y respondió la diosa de Citeres:
--"Prefiero, como todas las mujeres,
que me amen poco tiempo y con locura."

Ramón de Campoamor

Mad for Love 

"I shall love you, goddess Venus, if you wish
for me to love you for a long time and with good sense."
And the goddess of Cythera responded,
"I prefer, as all women do,
for you to love me for a short time and with madness." 

Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, reprinted with permission from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/

Algún Día

Un día llegarás,
El amor nos espera y me dirás:
Amada, ya llegó la primavera.

Un día me amarás.
Estarás de mi pecho tan cercano
Que no sabré si el fuego que me abrasa
Es de tú corazón o del verano

Un día me tendrás.
Escucharemos mudos latir nuestras arterias
Y sollozar los árboles desnudos. 

Un día, cualquier día, breve y eterno.
El amor es el mismo en verano,
En otoño y en invierno.

Dora Castellanos (b. 1924), Colombia

Some Day

One day you will arrive.
Love waits for us, and you will say to me:
My love, Spring has arrived.

One day you will love me.
You will be so close to my breast,
That I will not know if the fire that burns me,
Is from your heart or the Summer.

One day you will have me.
We will listen in silence to the beating of our
Hearts, and the sobbing of the naked trees.

One day, any day, short and eternal.
Love is the same in Summer,
Autumn, and Winter. 

Translation by Patricia Caicedo

Si no fuera por tí

Si no fuera por ti las cosas no tendrían
Esa vaga ternura, esa luz de penumbra.

Si no fuera por ti, esta melancolía
De soñar y llorar, no fuera la dulzura.

Si no fuera por ti ¡oh muerte!
Tantas cosas inadvertidas fueran.
Otorga tu silencio soledad a las rosas.

Por ti los ojos míos en el lucero esperan.
Si no fuera por ti, que trivales serían,
El amor y las manos que me unen amor.

Y que triste también el sol de cada día
Sin en la tarde no hubiera muriente resplandor. 
Nube, flor, poesía y este divino atardecer…

Antonio Llanos (1905-1978), Colombia

If it Weren’t For You

If it weren’t for you, things would not have
That blurry tenderness, that emanating light.

If it weren’t for you, this melancholy
Of dreaming and crying, would not be sweetness.

If not for you, O Death!
So many things would be mistakes.
Your silence gives solitude to the roses.

My eyes wait for you in radiance.
If it weren’t for you, how trivial love
and the hands that unite me with love would be.

And how sad, too, the sun of each day would be,
If in the afternoon there was no dying splendor.
Cloud, flower; poetry and this divine afternoon… 

Translation by Patricia Caicedo

Ojuelos de miel

Ojuelos de miel cantaba la madre
Frente de rocio, duermete mi bien.

Tu capitán de submarino
Tráele un ramo de coral
Atado con la nueva luna
Azul y verde bajo el mar. 

La rosa rosada bajo del rosal
Y con pies de aroma hacia al niño va
Aventurero de las nubes, tú de los mares capitán
Tráele un ramo transparente cómo la luna matinal.

Con alas de aroma vuela por la luz.
La dulce violeta de mirada azul.

Tú marinero desvelado tráele de tu soledad,
La orquídea nácar de la espuma en una armada de         cristal.

Ojuelos de miel, cantaba la madre
Por el mar y el aire.
Ya llegan los tres.

Eduardo Carranza (1913-1985), Colombia

Bright Eyes of Honey

Bright eyes of honey sang the mother
Dew-covered brow, sleep now my dear.

You, submarine captain,
Bring him a bouquet of coral
Tied with the new moon
Blue and green beneath the sea. 

The pink rose beneath the rosebush
With feet of perfume towards the boy it goes.
You, adventurer of the clouds, you, captain of the seas,
bring him a bouquet as transparent as the morning moon.
With wings of perfume, the sweet violet of
the blue gaze flies through the light.

You, wakeful seaman, bring to him from your solitude,
the mother-of-pearl orchid of the surf In a crystal fleet.


Bright eyes of honey, sang the mother
By sea and by air.
The three have arrived.

Translation by Patricia Caicedo

Más que nunca

Porque amarte es así de dulce y hondo
Como esta fiel serenidad del agua
Que corre por la acequia derramando
Su amorosa ternura sobre el campo.

Te amo en este sito de campanas y árboles,
En esta brisa, en estos jazmines y estas dalias.
La vida y su belleza me llegan claramente
Cuando pienso en tus ojos bajo este cielo pálido.

Sobre la yerba limpia y húmeda mis pisadas
No se oyen, no interrumpen el canto de los pájaros.


Ya la neblina desciende con la luz de la tarde y en
tu ausencia y mi angustia más que nunca te amo.


Maruja Vieira (b. 1922), Manizales, Colombia

More Than Ever

Because loving you is just as sweet and deep
As this faithful serenity of water
That runs through the channel spilling
Its loving tenderness over the countryside.

I love you in this place of bells and trees,
In this breeze, in those jasmines and these dahlias.
Life and its beauty come to me clearly
When I think of your eyes under this pale sky.

Over the clean, humid grass my footsteps
Are not heard, they do not interrupt the song of the birds.

The fog now descends with the light of the afternoon
And in your absence and my anguish, I love you more than ever. 

Translation by Patricia Caicedo

Bella enamorada

Bella enamorada con tu imagen sueño
y un amor dichoso busco para mi.
Bella enamorada que eres mi consuelo,
ya sin tu cariño, ya sin tu cariño
no podré vivir.

Noche de amor, noche misteriosa,
ven hacia mí sombra de mujer;
suave placer ver lo que soñamos,
quiero vivir por volver la a ver.
Ilusión perdida, quiero recordar
de un amor lejano que no volverá.

Dama misteriosa que en la sombra vives,
dime ya quién eres y sabrás mi amor.
Bella entre las bellas, linda enamorada,
tú eres mi tormento, tú eres mi tormento,
yo tu esclavo soy.

Noche de amor, noche misteriosa,
ven hacia mí sombra de mujer;
suave placer ver lo que soñamos,
quiero vivir por volver la a ver

Noche de amor, noche misteriosa,
ven hacia mí sombra de mujer;
ilusión perdida, quiero recordar
de un amor lejano ya no volverá.

José Tellaeche

Beautiful Lover

Beautiful lover, I dream of your image,
and seek a happy love.
Beautiful lover who is my consolation,
without your love, without your love
cannot live.

Night of love, mysterious night,
approach me, shadow-woman;
soft pleasure to see what we dream,
I want to live, by seeing her again.
Lost hope, I want to recall
a distant love that will never return.

Mysterious lady dwelling in the shadows,
tell me who you are and learn of my love.
Most beautiful of beauties, lovely lover,
you are my torment, you are my torment,
I am your slave.

Night of love, mysterious night,
approach me, shadow-woman;
soft pleasure to see what we dream,
I want to live, by seeing her again.

Night of love, mysterious night,
approach me, shadow-woman;
lost hope, I want to recall
a distant love that will never return. 

English translation © Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK.