Recital: Jack Keller '22, Tenor

Il mio bel foco…Quella fiammache m'accende

Il mio bel foco,
O Iontano o vicino
Ch'esser poss'io,
Senza cangiar mai tempre
Per voi, care pupille,
Arderà sempre.

Quella fiamma che m'accende
Piace tanto all'alma mia,
Che giammai s'estinguerà.
E se il fato a voi mi rende,
Vaghi rai del mio bel sole,
Altra luce ella non vuole
Nè voler giammai potrà.

Anonymous

My fire of love…That flame which kindled me

My fire of love,
however far
or near I might be,
never changing,
will always be burning
for you, dear eyes.

That flame which kindled me
is so pleased with my soul
that it never dies.
And if fate entrusts me to you,
lovely rays of my beloved sun,
my soul will never be able
to long for any other light.

Translation copyright © 2004 by Bertram Kottman.
Reprinted with permission from the LiederNet
Archive — https://www.lieder.net/

Un certo non so che

Un certo non so che
Mi giunge e passa il cor,
E pur dolor, non è.

Se questo fosse amor?
Nel suo vorace ardor,
Già posi incauta,
Posi il piè!

Anonymous

Something intangible, unknown

Something intangible, unknown
Is reaching and passing through my heart
And yet pain it is not.

What if this were love?
Into its ferocious burning passion,
And reckless abandon,
I have already stepped!

Translation ©  by Nicholas Cornforth
Reprinted with permission from the Oxford Lieder
Archive — https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk

Élégie

Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom! Qu'il dorme dans l'ombre,
Où froide et sans honneur repose sa dépouille.
Muettes, tristes, glacées, tombent nos larmes,
Comme la rosée de la nuit, qui sur sa tête humecte la gazon;

Mais la rosée de la nuit, bien qu'elle pleure en silence,
Fera briller la verdure sur sa couche

Et nos larmes, en secret répandues,
Conserveront sa mémoire fraîche et verte dans nos cœurs.

Thomas Moore, translated by Mme. Duparc


L’invitation au voyage

Mon enfant, ma sœur,
Songe à la douceur
D’aller là-bas vivre ensemble!
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble!
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.
Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté!
Vois sur ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l’humeur est vagabonde;
C’est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
Qu’ils viennent du bout du monde.
Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs,
Les canaux, la ville entière,
D’hyacinthe et d’or;
Le monde s’endort
Dans une chaude lumière.
Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté!

Charles Baudelaire


Phidylé

L'herbe est molle au sommeil sous les frais peupliers,
Aux pentes des sources moussues,
Qui, dans les prés en fleur germant par mille issues,

Se perdent sous les noirs halliers.

Repose, ô Phidylé! Midi sur les feuillages
Rayonne, et t'invite au sommeil.

Par le trèfle et le thym, seules, en plein soleil,
Chantent les abeilles volages.
Un chaud parfum circule au détour des sentiers,
La rouge fleur des blés s'incline,
Et les oiseaux, rasant de l'aile la colline,
Cherchent l'ombre des églantiers.

Mais, quand l'Astre, incliné sur sa courbe éclatante,
Verra ses ardeurs s'apaiser,
Que ton plus beau sourire et ton meilleur baiser
Me récompensent de l’attente!

Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle

Elegy

Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade.
Where cold and unhonored his relics are laid:
Silent, sad and frozen be the tears that we shed,
As the night-dew that moistens the grass o'er his head;

But the night-dew, though in silence it weeps,
Shall make the grass green on the grave where he        
       sleeps;
And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,
Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.




Invitation to journey

My child, my sister,
Think how sweet
To journey there and live together!
To love as we please,
To love and die
In the land that is like you!
The watery suns
Of those hazy skies
Hold for my spirit
The same mysterious charms
As your treacherous eyes
Shining through their tears.
There - nothing but order and beauty dwell,
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight.
See on those canals
Those vessels sleeping,
Vessels with a restless soul;
To satisfy
Your slightest desire
They come from the ends of the earth.
The setting suns
Clothe the fields,
Canals and all the town
With hyacinth and gold;
The world falls asleep
In a warm light.
There - nothing but order and beauty dwell,
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight.




Phidylé

The grass is soft for sleep beneath the cool poplars
On the banks of the mossy springs
That flow in flowering meadows from a thousand
       sources,
And vanish beneath dark thickets.

Rest, O Phidylé! Noon on the leaves
Is gleaming, inviting you to sleep.

By the clover and thyme, alone, in the bright sunlight,
The fickle bees are humming.
A warm fragrance floats about the winding paths,
The red flowers of the cornfield droop;
And the birds, skimming the hillside with their wings,
Seek the shade of the eglantine.

But when the sun, low on its dazzling curve,
Sees its brilliance wane,
Let your loveliest smile and finest kiss
Reward me to for my waiting!

Translations © Richard Stokes, author of A French
Song Companion (Oxford University Press)
Provided via Oxford Lieder (www.oxfordlieder.co.uk)

Traum durch die Dämmerung

Weite Wiesen im Dämmergrau;
Die Sonne verglomm, die Sterne ziehn;
Nun geh’ ich hin zu der schönsten Frau,
Weit über Wiesen im Dämmergrau,
Tief in den Busch von Jasmin.

Durch Dämmergrau in der Liebe Land;
Ich gehe nicht schnell, ich eile nicht;
Mich zieht ein weiches, sammtenes Band
Durch Dämmergrau in der Liebe Land,
In ein blaues, mildes Licht.

Otto Julius Bierbaum


Ruhe, meine Seele!

Nicht ein Lüftchen, regt sich leise,
Sanft entschlummert ruht der Hain;
Durch der Blätter dunkle Hülle
Stiehlt sich lichterSonnenschein.

Ruhe, ruhe, meine Seele,
Deine Stürme gingen wild,
Hast getobt und hast gezittert,
Wie die Brandung, wenn sie schwillt!
Diese Zeiten sind gewaltig,
Bringen Herz undHirn in Not—

Ruhe, ruhe, meine Seele,
Und vergiß, was dich bedroht!

Karl Friedrich Henckell


Cäcilie

Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Was träumen heißt
Von brennenden Küssen,
Vom Wandern und Ruhen
Mit der Geliebten,
Aug’ in Auge,
Und kosend und plaudernd –
Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Du neigtest Dein Herz!

Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Was bangen heißt
In einsamen Nächten,
Umschauert vom Sturm,
Da Niemand tröstet
Milden Mundes
Die kampfmüde Seele –
Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Du kämest zu mir.

Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Was leben heißt,
Umhaucht von der Gottheit
Weltschaffendem Atem,
Zu schweben empor,
Lichtgetragen,
Zu seligen Höhn,
Wenn Du es wüßtest,
Du lebtest mit mir.

Heinrich Hart


Morgen!

Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen
Und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde,
Wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen
Inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde ...
Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen,
Werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen,
Stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen,
Und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen …

John Herny Mackay

Dream into dusk

Broad meadows in grey dusk;
The sun has set, the stars come out,
I go now to the loveliest woman,
Far across meadows in grey dusk,
Deep into the jasmine grove.

Through grey dusk into the land of love;
I do not go fast, I do not hurry;
I am drawn by a soft velvet ribbon
Through grey dusk into the land of love,
Into a gentle blue light.




Rest, my soul!

Not even a soft breeze stirs,
In gentle sleep the wood rests;
Through the leaves’ dark veil
Bright sunshine steals.

Rest, rest, my soul,
Your storms were wild,
You raged and you quivered,
Like the breakers, when they surge!
These times are violent,
Cause heart and mind distress—

Rest, rest, my soul,
And forget what threatens you!




Cecily

If you knew
What it is to dream
Of burning kisses,
Of walking and resting
With one’s love,
Gazing at each other
And caressing and talking –
If you knew,
Your heart would turn to me.

If you knew
What it is to worry
On lonely nights
In the frightening storm,
With no soft voice
To comfort
The struggle-weary soul –
If you knew,
You would come to me.

If you knew
What it is to live
Enveloped in God’s
World-creating breath,
To soar upwards,
Borne on light
To blessed heights –
If you knew,
You would live with me.




Tomorrow!

And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the path that I shall take,
It will unite us, happy ones, again,
Amid this same sun-breathing earth ...
And to the shore, broad, blue-waved,
We shall quietly and slowly descend,
Speechless we shall gaze into each other’s eyes,
And the speechless silence of bliss shall fall on us …

Translations © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of
Lieder (Faber); Provided via Oxford Lieder
(www.oxfordlieder.co.uk)

Сирень

По утру, на заре,
По росистой траве,
Я пойду свежим утром дышать;
И в душистую тень,
Где теснится сирень,
Я пойду своё счастье искать...

В жизни счастье одно
Мне найти суждено,
И то счастье в сирени живёт;
На зелёных ветвях,
На душистых кистях
Моё бедное счастье цветёт…

Ekaterina Andreyena Beketova




Дитя! как цветок ты прекрасна

Дитя! как цветок ты прекрасна,
Светла, и чиста, и мила;
Смотрю на тебя... и любуюсь, -
И снова душа ожила...
Охотно б тебе на головку
Я руки свои возложил,
Прося, чтобы Бог тебя вечно
Прекрасной и чистой хранил.

Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev

Lilacs

In the morning, at daybreak,
over the dewy grass,
I will go to breathe the crisp dawn;
and in the fragrant shade,
where the lilac crowds,
I will go to seek my happiness...

In life, only one happiness
it was fated for me to discover,
and that happiness lives in the lilacs;
in the green boughs,
in the fragrant bunches,
my poor happiness blossoms…

Translation copyright ©  by Anton Bespalov and
Rianne Stam  Reprinted with permission from the
LiederNet Archive — https://www.lieder.net/


My child, you are as beautiful as a flower

My child, you are as beautiful as a flower,
As bright, and pure and sweet.
I look at you admiringly,
And once again, my soul is filled with life…
Willingly I would place my hands
On your dear little head;
Asking that God should keep you
Beautiful and pure forever.

Translation © Philip Ross Bullock; text and translation
provided courtesy of Oxford Lieder (www.oxfordlieder.co.uk)