Art Song Central

Title: Animal Crackers

Music: Richard Hageman (1882-1966)

Text: Christopher Morley (1890-1957)

Free at INHarmony:

• PDF file available here: Animal Crackers (low key)
• Key: C Major
• Range: C4 – D5

MIDI:

• Available via Maine Music Box

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers I think;
When I’m grown up and can have what I please,
I think I shall always insist upon these.
What do YOU choose when you’re offered a treat?
When Mother says, “What would you like best to eat?”
Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
It’s cocoa and animals that I love most!

The kitchen’s the cosiest place that I know;
The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

Daddy and Mother dine later in state,
With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;
But they don’t have nearly as much fun as I
Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;
And Daddy once said, he would like to be me
Having cocoa and animals once more for tea!

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: 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: 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:

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MIDI:

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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:

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MIDI:

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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: 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:

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MIDI:

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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: Desperato’s Banquet (from The Floating Island)

Composer: Henry Lawes (1595-1662)

Author: William Strode (1600-1643)

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

• PDF: Desperato’s Banquet
• Key: D Minor
• Range: F2 – D4
• Source: Twenty Four Songs by English Composers of the 17th & 18th Centuries

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Come, heavy souls, oppressed with the weight
Of crimes, and pangs, or want of your delight;
Come, drown in Lethe’s sleeply Lake,
Whatever makes you ache;
Drink healths from poisoned bowls,
Breathe out your cares together with your souls;
Cool death’s a salve
That all may have,
There’s no distinction in the grave.
Lay down your loads before death’s iron door;
Sigh, and sigh out; groan once, and groan no more.

• Not yet.

Title: Pietà Signore

Music: attributed to Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)

Text: Authorship Unknown

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Pietà Signore
• Key: A Minor
• Range: A3-D5
• Note: This edition appears to have some errors.
• Source: Library of Congress American Memory Project

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Transcribed at CPDL
• PDF available in A Minor or B Minor
• Range: A3-D5 or B3-E5
• Sibelius source file available to edit or transpose

• Transcribed at NWC Scriptorium
• No PDF available
• Range: A3-D5
• NWC source file available to edit or transpose

• Scanned as part of a collection at Internet Archive
• PDF available in A minor (page 92)
• Range: A3-D5
• Note: Some of the music in this book may not be public domain in the US

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Pietà, Signore,
di me dolente!
Signor, pietà,
se a te giunge
il mio pregar;
non mi punisca
il tuo rigor,
meno severi,
clementi ognora,
volgi i tuoi sguardi
sopra di me.

Non fia mai
che nell’inferno
sia dannato
nel fuoco eterno
dal tuo rigor.

Gran Dio, giammai
sia dannato
nel fuoco eterno
dal tuo rigor.
Pietà, Signore,
Signor, pietà
di me dolente,
se a te giunge
il mio pregare.
Meno severi,
clementi ognora,
volgi i tuoi sguardi,
deh! volgi sguardi
su me, Signor.
Pietà, Signore,
di me dolente.

• Recmusic.org has the text and translation.

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: 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:

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MIDI:

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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.

Title: At Dawning (I Love You)

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 (Original Key)
• Range: E♭4 – G5

• PDF at IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: G♭ Major
• Range: D♭4 – F5

• PDF at IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – E5

Mp3:

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MIDI:

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When the dawn flames in the sky,
I love you;
When the birdlings wake and cry,
I love you;
When the swaying blades of corn
Whisper soft at breaking morn
Love anew to me is born,
I love you.

Dawn and dew proclaim my dream,
I love you;
Chant the birds one thrilling theme,
I love you;
All the sounds of morning meet,
Break in yearning at your feet,
Come and answer, come, my sweet,
I love you.

• Not yet.

Title: Si j’étais jardinier

Music: Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)

Text: Léon Roger-Milès (1859-1928)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Si j’étais jardinier
• Key: A♭ Major
• Range: E♭4 – A♭5
• Source: Modern French Songs

• PDF: Si j’étais jardinier
• Key: E Major
• Range: B3 – E5
• Source: Modern French Songs

• PDF: Si j’étais jardinier
• Key: A♭ Major
• Range: E♭4 – A♭5
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

Elsewhere on the Internet:

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MIDI:

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Si j’étais jardinier des cieux
Je te cueillerais des étoiles!
Quels joyaux raviraient tes yeux
Si j’étais jardinier des cieux!

Dans la nuit pâle sous ses voiles
Ton éclat serait radieux.
Si j’étais jardinier des cieux,
Je te cueillerais des étoiles!

Si j’étais jardinier d’amour
Je te cueillerais des caresses,
Je te fêterais tout le jour
Si j’étais jardinier d’amour!

En leurs inédites tendresses
Mes bouquets te feraient la cour.
Si j’étais jardinier d’amour
Je te cueillerais des caresses!

Mais mon jardin n’est que chansons,
Et tu peux y cueillir toi-même,
Dieu pour les nids fit les buissons
Et mon jardin n’est que chansons.

Viens-là rêver si ton coeur m’aime
Et mon coeur aura des frissons.
Mais mon jardin n’est que chansons,
Et tu peux y cueillir toi-même.

IPA Transcription:

IPA for Si j’étais jardinier.

• Recmusic.org has the text.

Title: Noël d’Irlande (Irish Noël)

Music: Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847-1903)

Text: Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847-1903)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Noël d’Irlande
• Key: D Major
• Range: B3 – D5
• Source: La Mejor Musica

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Available in D Major (low) and G Major (high) in Modern French Songs which can be downloaded from Google Books

Mp3:

• Available at Gauterdo.com

MIDI:

• Not yet.

Rêvez, rêvez, enfants d’Irlande.
Que le divin Noël vous apporte du pain!
Rêvez, rêvez, que sur la lande
Vous chauffez vos pieds nus aux flammes du sapin!

Rêvez, rêvez, chanteurs d’Irlande,
Que les temps reviendront des Héros et des Rois!
Rêvez, rêvez, que Dieu commande,
Et qu’il vous rend la Harpe et le Trèfle, et la Croix.

Rêvez, rêvez, Martyrs d’Irlande,
Que le jour est venu de gloire et d’équité!
Rêvez! Et que Noël vous rende
La force des aïeux avec la Liberté!

• Recmusic.org has the text and translation.

Title: Because (Lorsque j’entends ton pas)

Music: Guy d’Hardelot (1858-1936) (pseudonym for Helen Rhodes)

Text:

• Original French: Guy d’Hardelot (1858-1936) (Helen Rhodes)
• English Translation: Edward Teschemacher

Free at Art Song Central:

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• PDF available via IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: C Major
• Range: E4 -G5
• Also at The National Library of Australia: Because

• PDF available via IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: B♭ Major
• Range: D4 -F5
• Also at The National Library of Australia in multiple copies.

• PDF available via IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: A♭ Major
• Range: C4 -E♭5
• Also at The National Library of Australia in multiple copies.

Mp3:

• As recorded in French by Caruso at the Internet Archive

MIDI:

• Not yet.

French:

Lorsque j’entends ton pas, comme en un rêve
Le fol espoir de te revoir s’élève,
Et vainement vers toi je tends les bras,
Quand j’entends ton pas.

Et quand divinement ta voix m’enchaîne,
Je vois s’évanouir toute ma peine,
Et tout ton être chante, et vibre en moi,
Quand j’entends ta voix.

Et puis tu viens à moi et je frissonne,
Tu prends ma main, et tout mon coeur se donne
A toi en un baiser brûlant d’émoi,
Car tu viens à moi!

English:

Because, you come to me, with naught save love,
and hold my hand and lift mine eyes above,
a wider world of hope and joy I see,
because you come to me!

Because you speak to me in accent sweet,
I find the roses waking round my feet,
and I am led through tears and joy to thee,
because you speak to me!

Because God made thee mine, I’ll cherish thee,
through light and darkness through all time to be,
and pray His love may make our love divine,
because God made thee mine!

• Recmusic.org has the English text.

Title: Recit: Behold, I tell you a mystery – Aria: The trumpet shall sound (from Messiah)

Music: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Text: 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: The trumpet shall sound
• Key: D Major
• Range: A2 – E4
• Source: The Messiah (Schirmer)

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

• Midi for the entire Messiah is available at botproductions.com

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

• Wikipedia has an entry for Messiah

Title: Bonjour, Suzon!

Music: Léo Delibes (1836-1891)

Text: Alfred de Musset (1810-1857)

Free at Art Song Central

• PDF: Bonjour, Suzon!
• Key: E♭ Major
• Range: B♭2 – E♭4
• Note: Vocal line is in Bass Clef
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

• PDF: Bonjour, Suzon!
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – F5
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

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Bonjour Suzon, ma fleur des bois!
Es-tu toujours la plus jolie?
Je reviens, tel que tu me vois,
D’un grand voyage en Italie,
Du paradis j’ai fait le tour;
J’ai fait des vers, j’ai fait l’amour.
Mais que t’importe?
Je passe devant ta maison;
Ouvre ta porte.
Bonjour, Suzon!

Je t’ai vue au temps des lilas.
Ton coeur joyeux venait d’éclore.
Et tu disais: “je ne veux pas,
Je ne veux pas qu’on m’aime encore.”
Qu’as-tu fait depuis mon départ?
Qui part trop tôt tard revient trop tard.
Mais que m’importe?
Je passe devant ta maison;
Ouvre ta porte.
Bonjour, Suzon!

• Recmusic.org has the text and translations.

Title: Ruhe, Süssliebchen

Music: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Text: Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853)

Free at Art Song Central

• PDF: Ruhe, Süssliebchen
• Key: F Major
• Range: B2 – D4
• Note: Vocal line is in Bass Clef
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

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Ruhe, Süßliebchen, im Schatten
Der grünen, dämmernden Nacht:
Es säuselt das Gras auf den Matten,
Es fächelt und kühlt dich der Schatten
Und treue Liebe wacht.
Schlafe, schlaf ein,
Leiser rauscht der Hain,
Ewig bin ich dein.

Schweigt, ihr versteckten Gesänge,
Und stört nicht die süßeste Ruh’!
Es lauschet der Vögel Gedränge,
Es ruhen die lauten Gesänge,
Schließ, Liebchen, dein Auge zu.
Schlafe, schlaf ein,
Im dämmernden Schein,
Ich will dein Wächter sein.

Murmelt fort, ihr Melodien,
Rausche nur, du stiller Bach.
Schöne Liebesphantasien
Sprechen in den Melodien,
Zarte Träume schwimmen nach.
Durch den flüsternden Hain
Schwärmen goldne Bienelein
Und summen zum Schlummer dich ein.

• Recmusic.org has text and translations.

Title: Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden (Op. 24, No. 5)

Composer: Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Author: Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
• Key: D Major
• Range: C♯3 – E♭4
• Note: The vocal line is in bass clef.
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

Elsewhere on the Internet:

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Mp3:

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MIDI:

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Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden,
schönes Grabmal meiner Ruh’,
schöne Stadt, wir müssen scheiden, -
Lebe wohl! ruf’ ich dir zu.

Lebe wohl, du heil’ge Schwelle,
wo da wandelt Liebchen traut;
lebe wohl! du heil’ge Stelle,
wo ich sie zuerst geschaut.

Hätt’ ich dich doch nie gesehen,
schöne Herzenskönigin!
Nimmer wär’ es dann geschehen,
daß ich jetzt so elend bin.

Nie wollt’ ich dein Herze rühren,
Liebe hab’ ich nie erfleht;
nur ein stilles Leben führen
wollt’ ich, wo dein Odem weht.

Doch du drängst mich selbst von hinnen,
bittre Worte spricht dein Mund;
Wahnsinn wühlt in meinen Sinnen,
und mein Herz ist krank und wund.

Und die Glieder matt und träge
schlepp’ ich fort am Wanderstab,
bis mein müdes Haupt ich lege
ferne in ein kühles Grab.

• Recmusic.org has the text and translations.

Title: Waldesgespräch

Composer: Adolf Jensen (1837-1879)

Author: Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Waldesgespräch
• Key: C minor
• Range: C3 – F4
• Note: Vocal line is in Bass Clef
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

Elsewhere on the Internet:

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Mp3:

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MIDI:

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Es ist schon spät, es wird schon kalt,
Was reitest du einsam durch den Wald?
Der Wald ist lang, du bist allein,
Du schöne Braut! Ich führ dich heim!

“Groß ist der Männer Trug und List,
Vor Schmerz mein Herz gebrochen ist,
Wohl irrt das Waldhorn her und hin,
O flieh! Du weißt nicht, wer ich bin.”

So reich geschmückt ist Roß und Weib,
So wunderschön der junge Leib,
Jetzt kenn ich dich – Gott steht mir bei!
Du bist die Hexe Lorelei.

“Du kennst mich wohl – vom hohen Stein
Schaut still mein Schloß tief in den Rhein.
Es ist schon spät, es wird schon kalt,
Kommst nimmermehr aus diesem Wald.”

• Recmusic.org has texts and translations.

Title: Allerseelen

Music: Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Text: Hermann von Gilm (1812-1864)

Free at Art Song Central:

• Allerseelen
• Key: B Major
• Range: A♯2 – E4
• Note: The vocal line is in Bass Clef
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

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MIDI:

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Stell auf den Tisch die duftenden Reseden,
Die letzten roten Astern trag herbei,
Und laß uns wieder von der Liebe reden,
Wie einst im Mai.

Gib mir die Hand, daß ich sie heimlich drücke
Und wenn man’s sieht, mir ist es einerlei,
Gib mir nur einen deiner süßen Blicke,
Wie einst im Mai.

Es blüht und duftet heut auf jedem Grabe,
Ein Tag im Jahr ist ja den Toten frei,
Komm an mein Herz, daß ich dich wieder habe,
Wie einst im Mai.

• Recmusic.org has the text and translations.