Today's Texts (Songs of Summer)

Songs of Summer at Our Lady of the Snows
Friday, June 21, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Songs of Summer

Je veux vivre from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod

Ah! Je veux vivre
Dans ce rêve qui m'enivre;
Ce jour encore,
Douce flamme,
Je te garde dans mon âme
Comme un trésor!

Ah! I want to live
In a dream that excites me
Today and always,
Sweet flame,
I hold you in my soul
Like a treasure!

Cette ivresse
De jeunesse
Ne dure, hélas! qu'un jour!
Puis vient l'heure
Où l'on pleure,
Le cœur cède à l'amour,
Et le bonheur fuit sans retour.
Je veux vivre…

This excitement
Of Youth
Doesn’t last, alas, one day!
Then comes the hour
When we cry,
The heart falls to love,
And good times flee without return.

Loin de l'hiver morose
Laisse-moi sommeiller
Et respirer la rose
Avant de l'effeuiller.

Far away from dark winter
Let me sleep
And smell the rose
Before it dies.

Villanelle from Les nuits d’été by Hector Berlioz
Quand viendra la saison nouvelle,
Quand auront disparu les froids,
Tous les deux nous irons, ma belle,
Pour cueillir le muguet aux bois;
Sous nos pieds égrenant les perles
Que l’on voit au matin trembler,
Nous irons écouter les merles
Siffler!

When the new season arrives,
When the cold is gone,
Together we will go, my lovely,
To gather lilies of the valley in the woods;
Strewing beneath our feet the pearls
We see trembling each morning,
We shall go to listen to the blackbirds
Singing!

Le printemps est venu, ma belle;
C’est le mois des amants béni,
Et l’oiseau, satinant son aile,
Dit ses vers au rebord du nid.
Oh! viens donc sur ce banc de mousse,
Pour parler de nos beaux amours,
Et dis-moi de ta voix si douce:
Toujours!

Spring has come, my lovely;
This is the month blessed by lovers;
And the bird, preening its wings until they are like satin,
Recites lines at the edge of its nest.
Oh! Come then onto the mossy bank
To speak of our beautiful loves,
And tell me in your voice so soft:
Forever!

Loin, bien loin, égarant nos courses,
Faisons fuir le lapin caché,
Et le daim au miroir des sources
Admirant son grand bois penché;
Puis, chez nous, tout heureux, tout aises,
En paniers enlaçant nos doigts,
Revenons rapportant des fraises
Des bois!

Far, so far away, we stray from our path,
Setting to flight the hiding rabbit
And the buck admiring in the mirror of the water Its great lowered antlers;
Then homeward we shall go, joyous and at ease,
Entwining our fingers together like baskets;
And we shall return home carrying
Wild strawberries!

Le spectre de la rose from Les nuits d’été by Hector Berlioz

Soulève ta paupière close
Qu’effleure un songe virginal;
Je suis le spectre d’une rose
Que tu portais hier au bal.
Tu me pris encore emperlée
Des pleurs d’argent de l’arrosoir,
Et parmi le fête étoilée
Tu me promenas tout le soir.

Open your closed eyelid
Which is gently brushed by a virginal dream!
I am the ghost of the rose
That you wore last night at the ball.
You took me when I was still sprinkled with pearls
Of silvery tears from the watering-can,
And, among the sparkling festivities,
You carried me the entire night.

Ô toi, qui de ma mort fus cause,
Sans que tu puisses le chasser,
Toutes les nuits mon spectre rose
À ton chevet viendra danser.
Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame
Ni messe ni “De profundis”;
Ce léger parfum est mon âme,
Et j’arrive du paradis.

O you, who caused my death:
Without the power to chase it away,
You will be visited every night by my ghost,
Which will dance at your bedside.
But fear nothing; I demand
Neither Mass nor De Profundis;
This mild perfume is my soul,
And I've come from Paradise.

Mon destin fut digne d’envie:
Et pour avoir un sort si beau,
Plus d’un aurait donné sa vie,
Car sur ton sein j’ai mon tombeau,
Et sur l’albâtre où je repose
Un poète avec un baiser
Écrivit: Ci-gît une rose
Que tous les rois vont jalouser.

My destiny is worthy of envy;
And to have a fate so fine,
More than one would give his life
For on your breast I have my tomb,
And on the alabaster where I rest,
A poet with a kiss
Wrote: "Here lies a rose,
Of which all kings may be jealous."

In my garden by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Ночью в саду у меня
Плачет плакучая ива,
И безутешна она
Ивушка, грустная ива.

At night in my garden the weeping willow weeps, and she is inconsolable,
This dear Willow, mournful willow tree.

Раннее утро блеснёт,
Нежная девушка-зорька
Ивушке, плачущей горько,
Слёзы кудрями сотрёт.

Early morning flashes;
The gentle maiden Dawn
From dear Willow, weeping bitterly,
Wipes away the tears with her curls.

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden by Liza Lehmann

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
It's not so very, very far away;
You pass the gardener's shed and you just keep straight ahead
I do so hope they've come to stay.
There's a little wood with moss in it and beetles,
And a little stream that quietly runs through;
You wouldn't think they'd dare to come merrymaking there,
Well, they do!

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
They often have a dance on summer nights;
The butterflies and bees
Make a lovely little breeze,
And the rabbits stand about and hold the lights.
Did you know that they could sit upon the moonbeams And pick a little star to make a fan,
And dance away up there In the middle of the air
Well, they can!

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
You cannot think how beautiful they are;
They all stand up and sing
When the fairy queen and king
Come gently floating down upon their car.
The king is very proud and handsome;
The queen, now can you guess who that would be? She's a little girl all day
But at night she steals away.
Well, it's me!

Daises by Sergei Rachmaninoff

О, посмотри! как много маргариток —
И там, и тут...
Они цветут; их много; их избыток;
Они цветут.

Oh, look! How many daisies —
Here and there...
They bloom; there are many of them; there is an abundance of them;
They bloom.

Их лепестки трёхгранные — как крылья,
Как белый шёлк...

Their triangular petals — like wings,
Like white silk...

Готовь, земля, цветам из рос напиток,
Дай сок стеблю...
О, девушки! о, звезды маргариток!
Я вас люблю...

Prepare, earth, a drink from dew for the flowers,
Give juice to the stem...
Oh, girls! Oh, stars of the daisies!
I love you...

How Fair This Spot by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Здесь хорошо...
Взгляни, вдали
Огнём горит река;
Цветным ковром луга легли,
Белеют облака.
Здесь нет людей...
Здесь тишина...
Здесь только
Бог да я.
Цветы, да старая сосна,
Да ты, мечта моя!

How nice it is here...
Look - far away,
The river is a blaze of fire;
The meadows lie like carpets of color
The clouds are white.
Here there is no one...
Here it is silent...
Here is only God and I,
The flowers, the old pine tree,
And you, my dream!

Love’s Philosophy by Roger Quilter

The fountains mingle with the River
And the Rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle.
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?

Silent Noon by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass,
The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:
Your eyes smile peace.
The pasture gleams and glooms
'Neath billowing clouds that scatter and amass.

All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,
Are golden kingcup fields with silver edge
Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn hedge.
'Tis visible silence, still as the hour glass.

Deep in the sunsearched growths the dragon-fly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky:
So this winged hour is dropt to us from above.

Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,
This close-companioned inarticulate hour
When twofold silence was the song of love.

Laurie’s Song from The Tender Land by Aaron Copland

Once I thought I’d never grow tall as this fence
Time dragged heavy and slow

But April came and August went
Before I knew just what they meant
And little by little I grew
And as I grew I came to know
How fast the time could go

Once I thought I’d never go outside this fence
This space was plenty for me

But I walked down the road one day
And just happened I can’t say
But little by little it came to be
That line between the earth and sky
Came beckoning to me

Now the time has grown short
The world has grown so wide

I’ll be graduated soon
Why am I strange inside?

What makes me think I’d like to try
To go down all those roads beyond that line
Above the earth and ‘neath the sky?

Tomorrow when I sit upon
The graduation platform stand
I know my hand will shake
When I reach out to take that paper
With the ribboned band

Now that all the learning’s done
O who knows what will now begin?

O it’s so strange
I’m strange inside

The time has grown so short
The world so wide

Ah, love, but a day! by Amy Beach

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?

August Night by Benjamin Beckman

She had forgotten how the August night
Was level as a lake beneath the moon,
In which she swam a little, losing sight
Of shore; and how the boy, who was at noon
Simple enough, not different from the rest,
Wore now a pleasant mystery as he went,
Which seemed to her an honest enough test Whether she loved him, and she was content.
So loud, so loud the million crickets’ choir. . .
So sweet the night, so long-drawn-out and late. . .
And if the man were not her spirit’s mate,
Why was her body sluggish with desire?
Stark on the open field the moonlight fell,
But the oak tree’s shadow was deep and black and secret as a well.

Lonely Tree by Benjamin Beckman

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Sempre libera from La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

Follie! follie delirio vano è questo!
Povera donna, sola
Abbandonata in questo
Popoloso deserto
Che appellano Parigi,
Che spero or più?
Che far degg'io!
Gioire,
Di voluttà nei vortici perire.

Madness! This is futile delirium!
Poor woman, alone
Abandoned in this
Crowded desert
That is called Paris,
What do I hope for now on?
What must I do?
Have fun,
Perish in the vortices of pleasure.

Sempre libera degg'io
Folleggiar di gioia in gioia,
Vo' che scorra il viver mio
Pei sentieri del piacer,
Nasca il giorno, o il giorno muoia,
Sempre lieta ne' ritrovi
A diletti sempre nuovi
Dee volare il mio pensier.

Free and aimless I frolic
From joy to joy,
Flowing along the surface
of life's path as I please.
As the day is born, or as the day dies,
Happily I turn to
The new delights
That make my spirit soar.

Amor è palpito dell´universo intero,
misterioso, altero,
croce e delizia al cor.

Love is a heartbeat throughout the universe,
mysterious, altering,
the torment and delight of my heart.

Oh! Oh! Amore!
Follie! Gioir!

Oh! Oh! Love!
Madness! Euphoria!

Translation by Even Fokas and Aaron Green

Estrellita by Manuel Ponce

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.

Star of a distant sky
That sees my pain
That knows my suffering
Come down and tell me
If you love me a bit
Because I can not live without your love.

¡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.

You are my star, my beacon of love!
You know that soon I will die
Come down and tell me
If you love me a bit
Because I cannot love without your love

Nuit d’etoiles by Claude Debussy

Nuit d'étoiles, sous tes voiles,
sous ta brise et tes parfums,
Triste lyre qui soupire,
je rêve aux amours défunts.

Starry night, beneath your pinions,
beneath your breeze and your perfumes,
Lyre, in sorrow, softly sighing, I dream of a love long past.

La sereine mélancolie
vient éclore au fond de mon coeur,
Et j'entends l'âme de ma mie
Tressaillir dans le bois rêveur.

Melancholy, so sadly tranquil,
fills with gloom my poor weary heart.
And I hear your dear soul, my darling,
Quivering in the dreamy wood.

Je revois à notre fontaine
tes regards bleus comme les cieux;
Cette rose, c'est ton haleine,
Et ces étoiles sont tes yeux.

I watch here at this, your small fountain your blue eyes like the sky; This rose, it is my dear hope, And these fair stars they are your eyes.

Sure on this shining night by Samuel Barber

Sure on this shining night
Of starmade shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
Wandering far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

La nuit by Ernest Chausson

Nous bénissons la douce nuit,
Dont le frais baiser nous délivre.
Sous ses voiles on se sent vivre
Sans inquiétude et sans bruit.

We bless sweet night,
whose fresh kiss delivers us.
Beneath her veils we feel ourselves living
without care and without sound.

Le souci dévorant s'enfuit,
Le parfum de l'air nous enivre;
Nous bénissons la douce nuit,
Dont le frais baiser nous délivre.

The devouring fear flees,
the fragrance of the air intoxicates us;
we bless sweet night,
whose fresh kiss delivers us.

Pâle songeur qu'un Dieu poursuit,
Repose-toi, ferme ton livre.
Dans les cieux blancs comme du givre
Un flot d'astres frissone et luit,
Nous bénissons la douce nuit.

Pale dreamer whom a God pursues,
rest, close your book.
In the heavens, as white as the frost,
a wave of stars shivers and glows,
we bless sweet night.