Dreams

“Dreams, Meditation & Reflection”
Texts, Notes & Translations

Halcyon Days (The Tempest) Paige Armstrong, soprano
Music composed by Henry Purcell. The text is based on an original play by Shakespeare.
Halcyon Days now wars are ending. You shall find where-e’er you sail. Tritons all the while attending with a kind and gentle gale.

She’s Like the Swallow Nona McFarland, soprano with Melissa Holm-Johansen, piano
Traditional melody from Newfoundland, arranged by Carl Strommen.
She’s like the swallow that flies so high. She’s like the river that never runs dry. She’s like the sunshine on the lee shore, I love my love and love is no more.
It’s out of wild roses she made a bed, a stony pillow for her head. She laid her down no word she spoke until this fair maid’s heart was broke.
She’s like the swallow…

Song of the River Laura Nelson, mezzo-soprano
Traditional English melody, arranged by Mark Patterson
Can you hear the song of the river? The voice of the gentle stream. It sings as it spills and slumbers, then it flows swift and sure to the sea.
My song is like the river flowing stronger as years go by. And time makes both more lovely, the river’s song and mine.
Can you hear the song of the river? Singing on as storm clouds roll? Though wind and rain pass over, stronger still the river flows.
My song is like the river running shore under stormy skies. And the rain makes both more lovely, the river’s song and mine.

Nacht und Träume “Night and Dreams” Michelle Barry, mezzo-soprano
Music composed by Franz Schubert set to the poem by Matthäus von Collin
Translation by Richard Wigmore.
Holy night, you sink down;
The dreams flow down, too,
Like your moonlight through the rooms,
Through the people’s silent chests.
They listen softly with desire;
They call, when day awakens:
Come back, holy night!
Sweet dreams, come back!

Es muss ein Wunderbares sein “How wondrous it must be” Jill Kilzer, mezzo-soprano & piano
Music composed by Franz Liszt set to a poem by Oskar von Redwitz-Schmölz.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder, Faber, 2005.
How wondrous it must be
When two souls love each other,
Locking each other wholly in,
Never concealing a single word,
And sharing with each other
Joy and sorrow, weal and woe;
Talking only of love
From the first kiss unto death.

Ständchen “Serenade” Ellie Mortensen, soprano
Music composed by Franz Schubert set to a poem by Ludwig Rellstab.
Translation by Richard Wigmore, first published by Gollancz and reprinted in the Hyperion
Schubert Song Edition.
Softly my songs plead
through the night to you;
down into the silent grove,
beloved, come to me!
Slender treetops whisper and rustle
in the moonlight;
my darling, do not fear
that the hostile betrayer will overhear us.
Do you not hear the nightingales call?
Ah, they are imploring you;
with their sweet, plaintive songs
they are imploring for me.
They understand the heart’s yearning,
they know the pain of love;
with their silvery notes
they touch every tender heart.
Let your heart, too, be moved,
beloved, hear me!
Trembling, I await you!
Come, make me happy!

Il lacerato spirito (Simon Boccanegra) John Hokanson, bass
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and Arrigo Boito
Jacopo Fiesco, a nobleman of Genoa, mourns the death of his daughter Maria, whom he has virtually imprisoned in his palace after she had an affair with the commoner Simon Boccanegra and bore him a child.
To you my last farewell, proud palace, cold sepulchre of my angel!
I was worth nothing in protecting her!
Oh cursed man! Oh vile seducer!
And you, Virgin – you let her be robbed of her virginal crown? Ah, what am I saying? I’m raving! Ah, forgive me!
The broken spirit of the sad father was reserved for the agony of infamy and of sorrow.
Heaven mercifully bestowed upon her the wreaths of martyrs.
Returned to the radiance of the angels, pray Maria, for me.


Heart, we will forget him (Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson) Delaney Henry, soprano
Music composed by Aaron Copland set to poetry by Emily Dickinson.
Often thought of as Copland’s crowning achievement as far as his prolific art song contribution, the Emily Dickinson songs stand as a pillar in the American art song genre. The cycle was premiered at Columbia University on May 18, 1950 as part of the Sixth Annual Festival of Contemporary American Music and was sung by Alice Howland and accompanied by Aaron Copland, himself.
Heart, we will forget him… You and I, tonight.
You may forget the warmth he gave.
I will forget the light….
When you have done, pray tell me, That I my thoughts may dim….
Haste… lest while you’re lagging, I may remember him.

The Cherry Tree Aubrianna Churchill, mezzo-soprano
Music composed by Armstrong Gibbs set to poetry by Margaret Rose.
The cherry’s a bloom in the Northland
The wild, lone cherry tree
The sad, sweet birds
Of the Springtime
Are singing again to me
They sing of the frozen rivers,
Piping soft and low
Till I think I hear
Your footsteps dancing across the snow
Sing, birds!
Sing songs of the Springtime
Sing high on the cherry tree
Sing of my love in the Northland
As my love once sang to me
Hush, birds!
The cherry in silence
Is letting her petals fall
For one whose dancing footsteps
Will never come
At all

Beau Soir “Beautiful Evening” Anita Hoffman, soprano
Music composed by Claude Debussy set to poetry by Paul Bourget.
Translation by Richard Stokes, from A French Song Companion, Oxford, 2000.

When at sunset the rivers are pink
And a warm breeze ripples the fields of wheat,
All things seem to advise content –
And rise toward the troubled heart;
Advise us to savour the gift of life,
While we are young and the evening fair,
For our life slips by, as that river does:
It to the sea – we to the tomb.

Villanelle (Les nuits d’été, op. 7) Riley Pritchett, tenor
Music composed by Hector Berlioz set to poetry by Théophile Goutier.
Translation by Richard Stokes, from A French Song Companion, Oxford, 2000.
When the new season comes,
When the cold has gone,
We two will go, my sweet,
To gather lilies-of-the-valley in the woods;
Scattering as we tread the pearls of dew
We see quivering each morn,
We’ll go and hear the blackbirds
Sing!
Spring has come, my sweet;
It is the season lovers bless,
And the birds, preening their wings,
Sing songs from the edge of their nests.
Ah! Come, then, to this mossy bank
To talk of our beautiful love,
And tell me in your gentle voice:
Forever!
Far, far away we’ll stray from our path,
Startling the rabbit from his hiding-place
And the deer reflected in the spring,
Admiring his great lowered antlers;
Then home we’ll go, serene and at ease,
And entwining our fingers basket-like,
We’ll bring back home wild
Strawberries!

Le Sommeil “Sleep” (La Courte Paille, FP 178 “The Short Straw”) Paige Armstrong, soprano
Music composed by Francis Poulenc set to poetry by Maurice Carême.
Poulenc’s charming collection of 7 songs on the theme of “childhood” were composed in 1960 and premiered later in 1961 by soprano Colette Herzog and pianist Jaques Février.
Sleep is on vacation.
My God! Where has it gone?
I’ve rocked my little one in vain;
he cries in his crib,
he’s been crying since noon.
Where has sleep put
its sand and its wise dreams?
I’ve rocked my little one in vain;
he turns, all sweaty,
he sobs in his bed.
Ah! return, return, sleep,
on your beautiful race horse!
In the black sky, the Big Bear *
has buried the sun
and re-lit his bees ** .
If baby doesn’t sleep well,
he won’t say “good morning,”
he won’t say anything tomorrow
to his fingers, to the milk, to the bread
that greet him with the day.

Ah, Love but a Day! (Three Browning Songs, op. 44) Ellie Mortensen, soprano
Music composed by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach set to poetry by Robert Browning.
Ah, Love, but a day,
And the world has changed!
The sun’s away,
And the bird estranged;
The wind has dropped,
And the sky’s deranged;
Summer has stopped.
Look in my eyes!
Wilt thou change too?
Should I fear surprise?
Shall I find aught new
In the old and dear,
In the good and true,
With the changing year?

O rest in the Lord (Elijah, Op. 70) Jill Kilzer, mezzo-soprano & piano
Music composed by Felix Mendelssohn and is taken from his Oratorio Elijah which was written in the spirit of his Baroque predecessors, Bach and Handel. The texts are from the books King 1 and King 2 from the Old Testament. The piece was premiered in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival.
O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and he shall give thee thy heart’s desires: O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him.
Commit thy way onto Him, and trust in Him; commit they way onto Him, and trust in Him, and fret not thyself because of evil doers.
O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him.

Lord God of Abraham (Elijah) John Hokanson, bass
Draw near, all ye people, come to me!

Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
This day let it be known that Thou art God,
And that I am Thy servant!
Lord God of Abraham!
Oh shew to all this people
That I have done these things according to Thy word.
Oh hear me, Lord, and answer me!
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
Oh hear me and answer me,
And shew this people that Thou art Lord God.
And let their hearts again be turned!

Strike the viol Emma Higgins, soprano
Music composed by Henry Purcell in 1694 with text by Nahum Tate.
Strike the viol, touch the lute,
Wake the harp, inspire the flute.
Sing your patroness’s praise,
In cheerful and harmonious lays.


Anakreon’s Grab “Anacreon’s Grave” (Goethe Lieder 1888-1889) Delaney Henry, soprano
Music composed by Hugo Wolf set to poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Translation by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005).

During the course of the winter 1888-89 Wolf wrote 51 songs in less than 4 months all set to poetry by Goethe. Anacreon was a Greek lyric poet of the sixth century B.C. who was well known for his love of nature, wine, love and song. The gentle, lyric musical writing of Wolf captures the resting place – Anacreon’s grave – filled with twining vines, lush roses, and cooing doves. Listen for Wolf’s piano postlude – where it is as if the narrator – walking away from the grave turns back around once last time to look at the peaceful resting place.
Where the rose is in flower, where vine interlaces with laurel,
Where the turtle-dove calls, where the cricket rejoices,
Whose grave is this that all the gods have decked with life
And beautiful plants? It is Anacreon’s resting place.
The happy poet savoured spring, summer and autumn;
This mound has at the last protected him from winter.

Verborgenheit “Seclusion” (Möricke Lieder, 1888) Emma Higgins, soprano
Music composed by Hugo Wolf set to poetry by Eduard Möricke. Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005).
Wolf wrote Verborgenheit on his 28^th birthday and it has become one of his most beloved and performed songs. The composer appeared quite annoyed by the fact that this particular song gained so much more popularity as opposed to some of his other songs at the time. Stylistically he broke with some of his more vintage traits; the chromatic miniature piano treatment isn’t there, paired with a rather large arching melodic line in the vocal part at times….All in all a much broader composition style that we often don’t hear from Wolf. Yet the song’s text and music capture the mood and creativity quite well!
Let, O world, O let me be!
Do not tempt with gifts of love,
Let this heart keep to itself
Its rapture, its pain!
I do not know why I grieve,
It is unknown sorrow;
Always through a veil of tears
I see the sun’s beloved light.
Often, I am lost in thought,
And bright joy flashes
Through the oppressive gloom,
Bringing rapture to my breast.
Let, O world, O let me be!
Do not tempt with gifts of love,
Let this heart keep to itself
Its rapture, its pain!


Morgen! (Op. 27, No. 4, 1894) Kathryn Rupp, soprano with Monique Rupp, piano
Composed by Richard Strauss with poetry by John Henry Mackay
Morgen! remains one of Strauss’s best-known and most widely recorded works. Strauss himself recorded it in 1919 accompanying the tenor Robert Hutt on the piano, and again in 1941 conducting the orchestral version with tenor Julius Patzak and the Bavarian State Orchestra.
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the way I’ll follow
the sun will again unite us lucky ones
amid this earth which breathes out the sun 

To the beach, wide and blue, like the waves 
We will descend still and slowly 
Silently we will look in each others eyes
And the mute hush of happiness will fall upon us 



Thank you!!
Steve Swanson
Kathryn  Rupp & Monique Rupp
To all my students – former & current!