Art Song Central

Title: I know the stars

Music: Michael Ching (b.1958) blog / store

Text: Sarah Teasdale (1884-1933)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: I know the stars (high key)
• Key: A Major
• Range: B3 – G5
• Note: This is a copyrighted work, released under a creative commons license.

• I know the stars (medium key)
• Key: F♯ Major
• Range: G♯3 – E5
• Note: This is a copyrighted work, released under a creative commons license.

I know the stars by their names,
Aldebaran, Altair,
And I know the path they take
Up heaven’s broad blue stair.

I know the secrets of men
By the look of their eyes,
Their gray thoughts, their strange thoughts
Have made me sad and wise.

But your eyes are dark to me
Though they seem to call and call —
I cannot tell if you love me
Or do not love me at all.

I know many things,
But the years come and go,
I shall die not knowing
The thing I long to know.

Title: Estrellita

Music: Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)

Text: Anonymous

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Estrellita
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – A5
• Source: Modern Music and Musicians for Vocalists, Volume 5

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Estrellita del lejano cielo,
que miras mi dolor,
que sabes mi sufrir.
Baja y dime
si me quiere un poco,
porque yo no puedo sin su amor vivir.

¡Tu eres estrella mi faro de amor!
Tu sabes que pronto he de morir.
Baja y dime
si me quiere un poco,
porque yo no puedo sin su amor vivir.

• Recmusic.org has the text

Title: Sorrow, Stay

Music: John Dowland (1563-1626)

Text: possibly John Dowland (1563-1626)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF file: Sorrow, Stay
• Key: G Minor
• Range: D4 – D5
• From: The Second Book of Ayres
• Source: Stainer & Bell edition, ed. Fellowes ©1922
• Note: This edition includes lute tabulature as well as a piano transcription.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Sorrow, stay! lend true repentant tears
To a woeful wretched wight.
Hence, Despair! with thy tormenting fears
O do not my poor heart affright.
Pity, help! now or never;
Mark me not to endless pain.
Alas, I am condemned ever,
No hope, no help there doth remain.

But down, down, down, down I fall,
And arise I never shall.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Hey, ho, the wind and the rain

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Hey, ho, the wind and the rain
• Key: E♭ Major (high)
• Range: G4 – A♭5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

• PDF: Hey, ho, the wind and the rain
• Key: C Major (low)
• Range: E4 – F5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
[With]1 hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Take, o take those lips away

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Take, o take those lips away
• Key: E Major (high)
• Range: F♯4 – E5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

• PDF: Take, o take those lips away
• Key: D♭ Major (low)
• Range: E♭4 – D♭5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Take, O take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again,
Seals of love, but sealed,
But sealed in vain!

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: It was a lover and his lass

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: It was a lover and his lass
• Key: A♭ Major (high)
• Range: F4 – A♭5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

• PDF: It was a lover and his lass
• Key: E Major (low)
• Range: C♯4 – E5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

IT was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green corn-field did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that life was but a flower
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And, therefore, take the present time
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crown`d with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Under the Greenwood Tree

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Under the Greenwood Tree
• Key: F Major (high)
• Range: F4 – F5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i’ the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleas’d with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Fear no more the heat o’ the sun

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
• Key: G♯ Minor (high)
• Range: E4 – F♯5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

• PDF: Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
• Key: F Minor (low)
• Range: D♭4 – E♭5
• Source: Five Shakespeare Songs

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o’ the great;
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: On Liberty (How Happy Thou and I)

Composer: Henry Lawes (1595-1662)

Author: Unknown

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: On Liberty
• Key: D Major
• Range: D4 – F♯5
• Source: Twenty Four Songs by English Composers of the 17th & 18th Centuries

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

How happy thou and I that never knew how to love!
There’s no such blessing here beneath, whate’er there is above.
‘Tis Liberty, ’tis Liberty, that every wise man loves.

Out, out upon those Eyes, that think to murder me!
And he’s an Ass believes her fair that will not leave him free:
There’s nothing sweet, there’s nothing sweet to man but Liberty.

I’ll tie my heart to none nor yet confine mine eyes,
But I will rove at Liberty and be no woman’s prize:
‘Tis Liberty, ’tis Liberty, has made me now thus wise.

• Not yet.

Title: If Music be the Food of Love

Composer: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Author: Colonel Henry Heveningham (1651-1700)

• First seven words are part of a well known quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: If Music be the Food of Love
• Key: F Minor
• Range: C4 – F5
• Source: Twenty Four Songs by English Composers of the 17th & 18th Centuries

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

If music be the food of love,
Sing on till I am fill’d with joy;
For then my list’ning soul you move
To pleasures that can never cloy.
Your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare
That you are music ev’rywhere.

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,
So fierce the transports are, they wound,
And all my senses feasted are,
Tho’ yet the treat is only sound,
Sure I must perish by your charms,
Unless you save me in your arms.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Stript of their Green

Composer: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Author: Peter Anthony Motteux (1663-1718)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Stript of their Green
• Key: B♭ Major
• Range: C4 – G5
• Source: Twenty Four Songs by English Composers of the 17th & 18th Centuries

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Stript of their green our Groves appear,
Our vales lie buried deep in snow;
The blowing north controls the dire,
A nipping cold chills all below.
The frost has glaz’d our deepest streams,
Phoebus withdraws his kindly beams.
Yet winter blest be thy return,
Thou’st brought the swain
For whom I us’d to mourn;
And in thy ice with pleasing flames we burn.
Too soon the sun’s reviving heat,
Will thaw thy ice and melt thy snow,
Trumpets will sound, and drums will beat,
And tell me the dear, dear youth must go;
Then must my weak unwilling arms,
Resign him up to stronger charms;
What flowers, what sweets, what beauteous thing,
When Damon’s gone, can ease or pleasure bring?
Winter brings Damon, winter is my spring.

• Recmusic.org has the text.
• Here is a pdf of the song for voice and figured bass as it appeared in “Orpheus Brittanicus” published after Purcell’s death: Stript of their Green

Title: My love’s an arbutus

Music: Traditional, arranged by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Text: Alfred Perceval Graves (1846-1931)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: My love’s an arbutus
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – D5
• Source: Folk-Songs and Other Songs for Children
• Also available in F major in Folk Songs of Many Nations

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• PDF available at the IN Harmony Sheet Music collection
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – D5
• Also available in G Major in Songs of the British Isles and in A♭ Major in Sixty Irish Songs and Modern Music and Musicians, all downloadable via Google Books.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

My love’s an arbutus
By the borders of Lene,
So slender and shapely
In her girdle of green.
And I measure the pleasure
Of her eye’s sapphire sheen
By the blue skies that sparkle
Through the soft branching screen.

But though ruddy the berry
And snowy the flower
That brighten together
The arbutus bower,
Perfuming and blooming
Through sunshine and shower,
Give me her bright lips
And her laugh’s pearly dower.

Alas, fruit and blossom
Shall lie dead on the lea,
And Time’s jealous fingers
Dim your young charms, Machree.
But unranging, unchanging,
You’ll still cling to me,
Like the evergreen leaf
To the arbutus tree.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Musica Proibita

Music: Stanislao Gastaldon (1861-1939)

Words:

• Attributed to the obviously fictitious “Flick-Flock”
• The lyrics are apparently by Gastaldon himself.

Note: Much has been made of the similarity between this song and De Koven’s O Promise Me. However, beyond the opening melodic notes and sentimental spirit, the two songs share little in common.

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Musica Proibita
• Key: starts in A Major
• Range: E4 – A5
• Source: La Mejor Musica del Mundo

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Ogni sera di sotto al mio balcone
Sento cantar una canzone d’amore,
Più volte la ripete un bel garzone
E battere mi sento forte il core.

Oh quanto è dolce quella melodia!
Oh com’ è bella, quanto m’ è gradita!
Ch’io la canti non vuol la mamma mia
Vorrei saper perché me l’ha proibita?

Ella non c’è ed io la vo’ cantare
La frase che m’ha fatto palpitare:

“Vorrei baciare i toui capelli neri
Le labbra tue e gli occhi tuoi severi;
Vorrei morir con te angel di Dio,
O bella innamorata, tesor mio.”

Quí sotto il vidi ieri a passeggiare
E lo sentiva al solito cantar:

“Vorrei baciare i toui capelli neri
Le labbra tue e gli occhi tuoi severi;
Stringimi, o cara, stringimi al tuo core
Fammi provar l’ebbrezza dell’amor.”

• Recmusic.org has text and translation.

Title: Ghosts

Music: Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972)

Text: Richard Kendall Munkittrick (1853-1911)

Note: this song is very short, but was much praised by Lang’s contemporaries.

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Ghosts
• Key: A♭ Major
• Range: F4 – F5

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Source available in Project Gutenberg’s edition of Contemporary American Composers, along with a midi file.
• Also in Google Book’s editions of Contemporary American Composers, and Godey’s Magazine

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Available here thanks to Project Gutenberg: Ghosts

Out in the misty moonlight, the first snow flakes I see,
As they frolic among the leafless boughs of the appletree.

Faintly they seem to whisper, as round the boughs they wing;
“We are the ghosts of the flowers who died in the early spring.”

• Not yet.

Title: Irish Love Song (Op. 22)

Music: Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972)

Text: Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972)?

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• PDF available via IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – G5

• JPG files available via The Maine Music Box
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – G5

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Available via The Maine Music Box

O the time is long, Mavourneen,
Till I come again, O Mavourneen;
An’ the months are slow to pass, Mavourneen,
Till I hold thee in my arms, O Mavourneen!

Shall I see thine eyes, Mavourneen,
Like the hazel buds, O Mavournen;
Shall I touch thy dusky hair, Mavourneen,
With its shim’rin glint o’ gold, O Mavourneen?

O my love for thee, Mavourneen,
Is a bitter pain, O Mavourneen;
Keep thy heart aye true to me, Mavourneen,
I should die but for thy love, O Mavourneen!

• Not yet.

Title: The Answer

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Scanned at the University of Rochester
• Key: PDF available in D Major
• Range: D4 – G5

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Ask me not, dear, what thing it is
That makes me love you so;
What graces, what sweet qualities,
That from your spirit flow:
For I have but this old reply,
That you are you, that I am I.

My heart leaps when you look on me,
And thrills to hear your voice;
Lies, then, in these the mystery
That makes my soul rejoice?
I only know I love you true,
Since I am I, and you are you.

• Not yet.

Title: Slumber Song (from “Where the Rainbow Ends”)

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: Clifford Mills

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Scanned at the University of Rochester
• Key: PDF available in A♭ Major
• Range: E♭4 – F5

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Rock-a-bye slumber comes soft from the West,
Mother is calling her babes to their nest,
Far flying birdies sail home on tired wing,
When all the world’s mothers their cradle song sing.-
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, shoo!

Rock-a-bye slumber brings dreams from afar,
Woven for Earth in the first evening star;
Down through a cloudway of sunset she flies,
And with her soft kisses gives sleep to tired eyes.-
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, shoo!

• Not yet.

Title: Psyché

Music: Émile Paladilhe (1844-1926)

Text: Pierre Corneille (1606-1684)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Psyché
• Key: G♭ Major
• Range: B♭3 – F5
• Source: Anthology of French Song

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Je suis jaloux, Psyché, de toute la nature!
Les rayons du soleil vous baisent troup souvent,
Vos cheveux souffrent trop les caresses du vent.
Quand il les flatte, j’en murmure!
L’air même que vous respirez
Avec trop de plaisir passe sur votre bouche.
Votre habit de trop près vous touche!
Et sitôt que vous soupirez
Je ne sais quoi qui m’effarouche
Craint, parmi vos soupirs, des soupirs égarés!

• Recmusic.org has the text and translation

Title: With Violets

Music: Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944)

Text: Letitia Katherine “Kate” Vannah (1855–1933)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: With Violets
• Key: G Major
• Range: E4 – F♯5

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Available in unedited pages at the Library of Congress.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

The violets that I send to you
Will close their blue eyes on your breast.
I shall not be there, Sweet, to see,
Yet do I know my flowers will rest
Within that chaste, white nest.

O little flowers, she’ll welcome you
So tenderly, so warmly! Go:
I know where you will die to-night,
But you can never, never know
The bliss of dying so!

If you could speak! Yet she will know
What made your faces wet, although
I fain would follow you and tell her.
There, go, and die, yet never know
To what a heaven you go!

• Not yet.

Title: From The Land of the Sky-blue Water (from Four American Indian Songs)

Music: Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946)

Text: Nelle Richmond Eberhart (1871-1944)

Free at Art Song Central:

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• PDF at IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: A♭ Major
• Range: E♭4 – E♭5

• Available as part of 4 American Indian Songs at IMSLP
• Key: B♭ Major
• Range: F4 – F5

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

From the Land of the Sky-blue Water
They brought a captive maid;
And her eyes they are lit with lightnings
Her heart is not afraid!

But I steal to her lodge at dawning,
I woo her with my flute;
She is sick for the Sky-blue Water,
The captive maid is mute.

• Not yet.