Burleigh (arr.) – Go down, Moses

Filed under: English, Low, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Go down, Moses (Let my people go!)

Music: Traditional spiritual, arranged by Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Traditional

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central:

  • PDF: Go down, Moses
    • Key: G Minor
    • Range: D4 – D5
    • Source: Individual song, ©1917 G. Ricordi & Co.

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Song Text

When Israel was in Egypt’s lan’,
Let my people go.
Oppress’d so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.

Go down, Moses,
‘Way down in Egypt’s lan’,
Tell ole Pharoh to let my people go.

Thus saith the Lord, bold Moses said,
Let my people go.
If not, I’ll smite your first born dead,
Let my people go.

Go down, Moses,
‘Way down in Egypt’s lan’,
Tell ole Pharah to let my people go.

[Pharaoh is spelled above as in the score.]

Resources

  • Duke’s Digital Collection has color scans of the original publication of Go down, Moses

Purcell – I see she flies me

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: I see she flies me

Composer: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Author: John Dryden (1631-1700)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

  • PDF: I see she flies me
    • Key: G Minor
    • Range: D4 – G5
    • Note: I have corrected the text in this edition by removing the s from the end of discover, noting that it broke the rhyme. However, the original Orpheus Brittanicus also has “discovers.” This edition is available uncorrected from Google Books. (See source)
    • Source: Six Songs by Henry Purcell

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Song Text

I see she flies me ev’rywhere,
Her eyes her scorn discover;
But what’s her scorn or my despair,
Since ’tis my fate to love her.
Were she but kind whom I adore,
I might live longer, but not love her more.

Resources

Purcell – Celia has a thousand charms

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Celia has a thousand charms

Composer: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Author: Robert Gould (1660?-1708/9)

Sheet Music

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Song Text

Celia has a thousand charms:
‘Tis heaven within her arms.
While I stand gazing on her face
Some new and some resistless Grace
Fill with fresh magic all the place.
But while the nymph I thus adore,
I should my wretched fate deplore.
But, oh, Mirtillo, have a care,
Her sweetness is beyond compare.
But then she’s false as well as fair.
Have a care, Mirtillo, have a care.

Resources

Burleigh (arr.) – ‘Tis me, O Lord (Standin’ in de need of pray’r)

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: ‘Tis me, O Lord (Standin’ in de need of pray’r)

Music: Traditional spiritual, arranged by Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Traditional

Sheet Music

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Song Text

‘Tis me, me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.
‘Tis me, me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.

Not my Deacon, not my Elder, but it’s me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.
Not my sister, not my brother, but it’s me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.

‘Tis me, me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.
‘Tis me, me O Lord,
Standin’ in de need of pray’r.

Resources

  • Duke’s Digital Colle has color scans of the original publication of ‘Tis me, O Lord

Burleigh (arr.) – Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Music: Traditional spiritual, arranged by Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Traditional

Sheet Music

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Song Text

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

I look’d over Jordan what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

Resources

Burleigh (arr.) – Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

Filed under: English, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

Music: Traditional spiritual, arranged by Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Traditional

Sheet Music

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Song Text

Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile,
A long ways from home.

Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone,
A long ways from home.

Resources

Burleigh – You’ll git dar in de mornin’!

Filed under: English, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: You’ll git dar in de mornin’!

Music: Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Frank Lebby Stanton (1857-1927) (Bio on page 2 of this PDF)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central:

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • Transcribed at Project Gutenberg
    • Key: PDF file available in F Major
    • Range: C4 – F5
    • Finale .mus file available to edit or transpose

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Song Text

Keep on lookin’ fo’ de bright, bright skies;
Keep on hopin’ dat de sun’ll rise,
Keep on singin’ when de whole world sighs,
An’ you’ll git dar in de mornin’!

Keep on plowin’ when you’ve miss’d de crops;
Keep on dancin’ when de fiddle stops;
Keep on faithful till de curtain drops,
An’ you’ll git dar in de mornin’!

Resources

Burleigh – O Perfect Love

Filed under: English, High, Low, Medium, Songs, Wedding

Song Information

Title: O Perfect Love (Wedding Song)

Music: Harry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949)

Text: Dorothy Frances Blomfield (1858-1932)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central:

  • PDF: O Perfect Love
    • Key: F Major
    • Range: B♭3 – D5 (F5)
    • note: this is a minimally edited transposition of the version below from Project Gutenberg.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • Transcribed at Project Gutenberg
    • Key: PDF file available in A♭ Major
    • Range: D4 – F5 (A♭5)
    • Finale .mus file available to edit or transpose

Audio Files

Mp3:

  • Available at Project Gutenberg. (However, it is merely an audio recording of the midi file.)

MIDI:

Song Text

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
lowly we kneel in prayer before thy throne,
that theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
whom thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be thou their full assurance,
of tender charity and steadfast faith,
of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,
with childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
and to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow
that dawns upon eternal love and life.

Resources

  • Seiyaku.com has the story of the hymn text that served as the lyric for this song.

Smith – The Star-Spangled Banner

Filed under: English, High, Low, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: The Star-Spangled Banner

Music: John Stafford Smith (1750-1836)

Text: Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central:

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • The “official” service version can be found at The National Anthem Project
    • Key: PDF available in A♭ Major
    • Range: A♭3 – E♭5
  • Transcribed at Project Gutenberg as part of The Good Old Songs We Used to Sing
    • Key: PDF available in C Major
    • Range: C4 – G5
    • Note: There are some differences between this version and the one now commonly sung.

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Song Text

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Resources

Yradier – La Paloma

Filed under: Medium, Songs, Spanish

Song Information

Title: La Paloma

Composer: Sebastián Yradier (1809-1865)

Author: Sebastián Yradier (1809-1865)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central:

  • PDF: La Paloma
    • Key: C Major
    • Range: G3 – F5 (Editor suggests that the lowest notes can be taken up an octave.)
    • Note: The lowest notes in this version are from a part of the refrain that does not appear in many other editions.
    • Source: Individual song via Library of Congress ©1883
  • PDF: La Colombe (La Paloma)
    • Key: D Major
    • Range: D4 – G5
    • Note: This version lacks the coda of the previous one. The music is presented in French and English translation. The Spanish text is included at the end with the melody reproduced over the first verse.
    • Source: Individual song via Library of Congress ©1877

Elsewhere on the Internet:

Audio Files

Mp3:

  • Not yet.
  • numerous versions available on YouTube.

MIDI:

Song Text

1. Cuando salí de la Habana
¡Valgame Dios!
Nadie me ha visto salir
Si no fuí yo.
Y una linda Guachinanga
S’allá voy yo,
Que se vino tras de mi,
Que sí señor.

Refrain
Si a tu ventana llega
Una Paloma,
Tratala con cariño
Que es mi persona.
Cuentala tus amores,
Bien de mi vida,
Coronala de flores
Que es cosa mia.
Ay! chinita que sí!
Ay! que dame tu amor!
Ay! que ven te conmigo,
Chinita, adonde vivo yo!

2. El dia nos casemos
¡Valgame Dios!
En la semana que hay ir
Me hace reir
Desde la Yglesia juntitos,
Que sí señor,
Nos hiremos à dormir,
Allá voy yo.

(Refrain)

3. Cuando el curita nos seche
La bendicion
En la Yglesia Catedral
Allá voy yo
Yo te daré la manita
Con mucho amor
Y el cura dos hisopazos
Que sí señor

(Refrain)

4. Cuando haya pasado tiempo
¡Valgame Dios!
De que estemos casaditos
Pues sí señor,
Lo menos tendremos siete
Y que furor!
O quince guachinanguitos
Allá voy yo

(Refrain)

Resources

Debussy – Romance

Filed under: French, High, Low, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Romance

Music: Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Text: Paul Bourget (1852-1935)

Sheet Music

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Song Text

L’âme évaporée et souffrante,
L’âme douce, l’âme odorante
Des lis divins que j’ai cueillis
Dans le jardin de ta pensée,
Où donc les vents l’ont-ils chassée,
Cette âme adorable des lis?
N’est-il plus un parfum qui reste
De la suavité céleste
Des jours ou tu m’enveloppais
D’une vapeur surnaturelle,
Faite d’espoir, d’amour fidèle,
De béatitude et de paix?

Resources

Dowland – Burst forth, my tears

Filed under: English, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Burst forth, my tears

Music: John Dowland (1563-1626)

Text: unknown

Sheet Music

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Song Text

Burst forth, my tears, assist my forward grief,
And show what pain imperious Love provokes.
Kind tender lambs, lament Love’s scant relief
And pine, since pensive Care my freedom yokes.
O pine to see me pine, my tender flocks.

Sad, sad pining Care, that never may have peace,
At Beauty’s gate in hope of pity knocks.
But Mercy sleeps while deep Disdain increase,
And Beauty Hope in her fair bosom locks.
O grieve to hear my grief, my tender flocks.

Like, like to the winds my sighs have winged been,
Yet are my sighs and suits repaid with mocks.
I plead, yet she repineth at my teen.
O ruthless rigour harder than the rocks,
That both the shepherd kills and his poor flocks.

Resources

Dowland – Dear, if you change

Filed under: English, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Dear, if you change

Music: John Dowland (1563-1626)

Text: unknown

Sheet Music

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  • The accompaniment can be heard on Guitar thanks to Jon Sayles

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Song Text

Dear, if you change, I’ll never choose again;
Sweet, if you shrink, I’ll never think of love;
Fair, if you fail, I’ll judge all beauty vain;
Wise, if too weak, more wits I’ll never prove.
Dear, Sweet, Fair, Wise, change, shrink, nor be not weak;
And on my faith, my faith shall never break.

Earth with her flowers shall sooner heav’n adorn;
Heaven her bright stars through earth’s dim globe shall move;
Fire heat shall lose, and frosts of flame be born;
Air, made to shine, as black as hell shall prove;
Earth, Heaven, Fire, Air, the world transformed shall view,
Ere I prove false to faith, or strange to you.

Resources

Dowland – Can she excuse my wrongs?

Filed under: English, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Can she excuse my wrongs?

Music: John Dowland (1563-1626)

Text: possibly John Dowland (1563-1626)

Sheet Music

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  • The accompaniment can be heard on Guitar thanks to Jon Sayles

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Song Text

Can she excuse my wrongs with Virtue’s cloak?
Shall I call her good when she proves unkind?
Are those clear fires which vanish into smoke?
Must I praise the leaves where no fruit I find?
No, no; where shadows do for bodies stand,
That may’st be abus’d if thy sight be dim.

Cold love is like to words written on sand,
Or to bubbles which on the water swim.
Wilt thou be thus abused still,
Seeing that she will right thee never?
If thou canst not o’ercome her will,
Thy love will be thus fruitless ever.

Was I so base, that I might not aspire
Unto those high joys which she holds from me?
As they are high, so high is my desire,
If she this deny, what can granted be?
If she will yield to that which reason is,
It is reason’s will that love should be just.

Dear, make me happy still by granting this,
Or cut off delays if that I die must.
Better a thousand times to die
Than for to love thus still tormented:
Dear, but remember it was I
Who for thy sake did die contented.

Resources

De Koven – Oh Promise Me

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs, Wedding

Song Information

Title: Oh Promise Me (from “Robin Hood”)

Music: Reginald de Koven (1859-1920)

Text: Clement Scott (1841-1904)

Sheet Music

Note: Much has been made of the similarity between this song and Gastaldon’s Musica Proibita. However, beyond the opening melodic notes and sentimental spirit, the two songs share little in common.
Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • PDF available at the Internet Archive: Oh Promise Me
    • Key: A♭ Major
    • Range: E♭4 – F5 (optional A♭5)
    • Also available in djvu format, and as images via FTP.
  • PDF available at USOpera.com: Oh Promise Me
    • Key: G Major
    • Range: D4 – E5 (optional G5)
    • Transcribed with Finale.

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Song Text

Oh promise me that some day you and I
will take our love together to some sky,
Where we can be alone and faith renew,
and find the hollows where the flowers grew,
those first sweet violets of early spring
Which come in whispers, thrill us both, and sing
of love unspeakable that is to be;
Oh promise me, Oh promise me!

Oh promise me that you will take my hand,
the most unworthy in this lonely land,
and let me sit beside you, in your eyes
Seeing the vision of our paradise,
Hearing God’s message while the organ rolls,
its mighty music to our very souls,
no love less perfect than a life with thee;
Oh promise me, oh promise me!

Resources

  • Parlorsongs.com has more information about Oh Promise Me and other “enduring” hit songs from the turn of the century. Click on the sheet music for a link to a scorch version (unprintable) of this song.

Schubert – Nacht und Träume

Filed under: German, High, Low, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Nacht und Träume

Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Author: Matthäus von Collin (1779-1824)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

  • PDF file: Nacht und Träume
    • Key: B Major (original key)
    • Range: D♯4 – E5
    • Transcribed using PrintMusic 2006
  • PDF file: Nacht und Träume
    • Key: A Major
    • Range: C♯4 – D5
    • Transcribed using PrintMusic 2006

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Song Text

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

Resources

Faure, J – Les Rameaux

Filed under: French, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Les Rameaux

Music: Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830-1914)

Text: Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830-1914)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

  • PDF: Les Rameaux
    • Key: PDF available in B♭ Major
    • Range: D4 – F5
    • This is an old edition via The American Memory Project at The Library of Congress.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • Transcribed at the Werner Icking Music Archive
    • Key: PDF available in B♭ Major
    • Range: D4 – F5
    • Note: This edition is missing from the site at the moment. I will work on replacing it.
    • Finale source file also available to edit or transpose.

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Song Text

Sur nos chemins les rameaux et les fleurs
Sont répandus dans ce grand jour de fête,
Jésus s’avance, il vient sécher nos pleurs,
Déjà la foule à l’acclamer s’apprête;
Peuples, chantez, chantez en choeur,
Que votre voix à notre voix réponde.
Hosanna! Gloire au Seigneur!
Béni celui qui vient sauver le monde!

Il a parlé, les peuples à sa voix
Ont recouvré leur liberté perdue;
L’humanité donne à chacun ses droits,
Et la lumière est à chacun rendue;
Peuples, chantez, chantez en choeur,
Que votre voix à notre voix réponde.
Hosanna! Gloire au Seigneur!
Béni celui qui vient sauver le monde!

Réjouis-toi, Sainte Jérusalem,
De tes enfants chante la délivrance;
Par charité le Dieu de Bethléhem
Avec la foi t’apporte l’espérance!
Peuples, chantez, chantez en choeur,
Que votre voix à notre voix réponde.
Hosanna! Gloire au Seigneur!
Béni celui qui vient sauver le monde!

Resources

Schubert – An die Laute

Filed under: German, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: An die Laute

Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Author: Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842) (bio in German)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • Transcribed at CPDL: An die Laute
    • Key: PDF available in C Major
    • Range: C4 – E5

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Song Text

Leiser, leiser, kleine Laute,
Flüstre was ich dir vertraute,
Dort zu jenem Fenster hin!
Wie die Wellen sanfter Lüfte,
Mondenglanz und Blumendüfte,
Send es der Gebieterin!

Neidisch sind des Nachbars Söhne,
Und im Fenster jener Schöne
Flimmert noch ein einsam Licht.
Drum noch leiser, kleine Laute;
Dich vernehme die Vertraute,
Nachbarn aber, Nachbarn nicht!

Resources

Quilter – Now sleeps the Crimson Petal

Filed under: English, High, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Now sleeps the Crimson Petal

Music: Roger Quilter (1877-1953)

Text: Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

Sheet Music

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Song Text

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The fire-fly wakens: waken thou with me.

Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake:
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.

Resources

Wolf – Verschwiegene Liebe

Filed under: German, Medium, Songs

Song Information

Title: Verschwiegene Liebe

Music: Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)

Text: Joseph von Eichendorff (1788-1857)

Sheet Music

Free at Art Song Central (PDF files):

Elsewhere on the Internet:

  • Transcribed at the Werner Icking Music Archive
    • Key: PDF available in F♯ Minor? (Three sharps)
    • Range: C4 – E♯5
    • Capella source file also available to edit or transpose.

Audio Files

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Song Text

Über Wipfel und Saaten
In den Glanz hinein
Wer mag sie erraten,
Wer holte sie ein?
Gedanken sich wiegen,
Die Nacht ist verschwiegen,
Gedanken sind frei.

Errät es nur eine,
Wer an sie gedacht
Beim Rauschen der Haine,
Wenn niemand mehr wacht
Als die Wolken, die fliegen
Mein Lieb ist verschwiegen
Und schön wie die Nacht.

Resources