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:

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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:

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MIDI:

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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:

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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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Mp3:

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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: 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:

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Mp3:

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MIDI:

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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: 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:

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MIDI:

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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: 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: 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:

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MIDI:

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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:

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Mp3:

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MIDI:

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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: 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:

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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: Sans Toi

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

Text: Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-1885) (from Contemplations)

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: Sans Toi
• Key: B♭ Major
• Range: C4 – A♭5
• Source: World’s Best Music ©1904

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Available in the Alto volume of Spicker’s Song Miscellany in G
• Also in The Artistic Soprano and the Soprano volume of Famous Songs in B♭

Mp3:

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MIDI:

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De quoi puis-je avoir envie,
De quoi puis-je avoir effroi,
Que ferai-je de la vie
Si tu n’es plus près de moi?

Que veux-tu que je devienne
Si je n’ entends plus ton pas?
Est-ce ta vie ou la mienne
Qui s’ en va? Je ne sais pas.

Tu portes dans la lumière,
Tu portes dans les buissons,
Sur une aile ma prière,
Et sur l’ autre mes chansons.

De quoi puis-je avoir envie,
De quoi puis-je avoir effroi,
Que ferai-je de la vie
Si tu n’es plus près de moi?

Que ferai-je, seul, farouche,
Sans toi, du jour et des cieux,
De mes baisers, sans ta bouche,
Et de mes pleurs, sans tes yeux!

• Not yet.

Title: L’Appel du Printemps

Music: Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847-1903)

Text: Augusta Mary Anne Holmès (1847-1903)?

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: L’Appel du Printemps
• Key: F Major
• Range: C4 – F5
• Source: German, French and Italian Song Classics

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Not yet.

Mp3:

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MIDI:

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Amoureux, amoureuses,
Suivez moi dans les bois retentissants!
Imitez les accents
Des colombes heureuses!
O Bergers, à genoux!
Bergères, Attendrissez-vous,
Livrez aux baisers timides et doux
Vos gazes légères!

Car l’Amour n’a qu’un jour,
La rose n’a qu’une heure,
Et l’ennui demeure,
Et l’hiver, on pleure l’étè,
Et la Beaute!
O Bergers, à genoux!
Bergères, Attendrissez-vous,
Livrez aux baisers timides et doux
Vos gazes légères!

Amoureux, amoureuses,
Je ramene les fleurs et les Désirs!
Saisissez les Plaisirs
par leurs ailes heureuses!
O Bergers, parlez bas!
Bergères, Ne rèsistez pas!
L’Amour suppliant vous montre la-bas
Les mousses légères!

Ah, cédez! Accordez l’extase que votre âme
En secret réclame!
Une lèvre en flamme, En fleurs,
Sèche les pleurs!
O Bergers, parlez bas!
Bergères, Ne rèsistez pas!
L’Amour suppliant vous montre la-bas
Les mousses légères
L’Amour triomphant vous ouvre les bras!
Cedez, Ô Bergères!

• Not yet.

Title: The Year’s at the Spring

Music: Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944)

Text: Robert Browning (1812-1889)

Free at Art Song Central:

• Not yet.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• PDF available via IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana
• Key: B♭ Major
• Range: F4 – F5

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

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The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven–
All’s right with the world!

• Recmusic.org has the text.

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: The Rainy Day

Music: Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944)

Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Note: This appears to be Amy Beach’s first published song, written in 1880 when she was just 13. She was 16 when this was published.

Free at Art Song Central:

• PDF: The Rainy Day
• Key: F Minor
• Range: C4 – F5

Elsewhere on the Internet:

• Available in unedited pages at the Library of Congress. (Note that the name on the cover page and the catalog entry are spelled incorrectly.)

Mp3:

• Not yet.

MIDI:

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The day is cold, and dark, and dreary
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldr’ng wall,
But at ev’ry gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary.
My thoughts still cling to the mould’ring Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

• Recmusic.org has the text.