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The Complete Songs of Charles Ives
The Songs of Charles Edward Ives
The song literature of Charles Ives is the richest and most important body of vocal music in the history of American music. All the more astonishing in that Ives was not exclusively, nor primarily, a composer of art songs. During the approximately thirty years of his composing life (from 1887 to about 1926), Ives composed songs continuously, while he also produced a body of works for symphony, chamber orchestra and ensembles, keyboard, and chorus that are considered among the masterpieces of 20th century music.
This project to record all of Ives' songs is an heroic undertaking. The sheer quantity of music and the extraordinary range and diversity of texts and musical styles have discouraged such efforts in the past. Ives began and ended his composing career with songs; between the first and last, he produced an unusually large number (almost 200) of pieces for voice and piano. Like everything else about Ives, the songs defy easy description, generalization and categorization; they present an enormous challenge to the four singers, who perform Ives' complete songs in this set of four compact discs, each with his or her own pianist.
That the division of so many pieces among four singers was accomplished amicably is in itself a tribute to the artists' dedication and determination. Each song is performed in the key in which it was published, thus the decisions concerning matching of singer to song were made according to suitability of voice range. A general chronological order is followed with occasional exceptions (for instance, on disc two, Ives' final song arrangement, "They are There," follows directly after the much earlier World War I "He is There"). In cases where Ives set more than one text to the same music, only one version is presented, except if substantial change was made in musical material. In keeping with Ives' views supporting freedom of interpretation for performers, choices between versions were left to the individual artist, based on what he or she considered most effective. (An example is "The World's Wanderers" sung in the English rather than the German version.) For the chronology, however, the earliest date of composition is employed.
The songs of Charles Ives exist as a unique kind of autobiography. In fact they are the most telling of sources, for Ives wrote songs that represent virtually every facet of his external and internal life. The adventurous listener can expect an exciting musical voyage, not always the most comfortable, as Ives leads the traveler from gentle explorations back in time to wild forays into the future. Charles Ives believed what his imaginative father, George Ives, had told him: "You won't get a ride to Heaven on pretty little sounds."
Even in the earliest songs, the element of nostalgia that is so characteristic of Ives' music is present, and it is a nostalgia without the maudlin sentimentality that so often accompanies such works. As a boy without a store of his own memories as yet, Ives recalled the lives of his ancestors, particularly his father and his boyhood. "Memories" of 1897, for example, is explicitly nostalgic: in "MemoriesVery Pleasant" a lilting melody is sung "as fast as it will go" by a youngster seated in the opera house anticipating the curtain going up; in "MemoriesRather Sad," the singer reminisces about "the tune my Uncle hummed from early morn." The actual humming of the tune, and Ives' use of the present tense juxtaposed with such old-fashioned expressions as "doth" and "twas," convey a sense of reality and immediacynot of today, but of a time long past.
The small town atmosphere of 19th century Danbury, its Main Street, and the old Ives homestead are nowhere described more vividly than in Ives' songs. Like the old photographs that hung in the entryway, the songs portray Ives as a boy, and his father George, bandmaster of Danbury, as he led a Civil War band and experimented with sounds of all kinds. Back and forth in time the songs go, recreating events, people, and places of long ago. ("Long ago" is in fact a phrase one hears frequently in the texts.) The old pictures come alive, gaining new perspective from Ives' highly personalized musical language. As he shares his house and his life in song, doors and windows swing open, old and new combine in a burst of creativity, and the result is songs that speak directly and spontaneously to the listener.
As well as recreating time and place in sound, the songs allow entrée to Ives' experimental ideas and philosophies. The noted Ives scholar and performer John Kirkpatrick told this writer: "Ives had the kind of all-encompassing mind that could be aware of a whole multiplicity of things, all spread around in apparent disorder, but he could be aware of them in exactly the kind of relations they had, spatially and logically, without having them grouped into convenient groupings. He was such a paradoxical person in so many ways!"
Ives' Memos (later edited by John Kirkpatrick) present primary source material, but they were written well after Ives ceased composing, whereas the songs are a direct experience of Ives' complex life and art. Ives seemed aware of thishe wanted his songs heard, and if not heard in his lifetime, to be preserved in print. Toward that end, in 1922 he published a volume of 114 Songs and distributed them at his own expense. A postscript to 114 Songs is characteristic of Ives' writing style; it is one of the most telling (and therefore most quoted) of his several literary works. The wide-ranging, mercurial Ives is ever-presentin explosions of impatience with the musical establishment and with explanations of transcendental ideas as applied to music. At the end of his book of songs, Ives wrote: "Some have written a book for money; I have not. Some for fame; I have not. Some for love; I have not In
fact, I have not written a book at allI have merely cleaned house. All that is left is out on the clothesline" (Ives subsequently printed 50 Songs from the larger collection, and other smaller groupings followed, such as 7 Songs, 34 Songs, and so forth. In preparation under the auspices of The Charles Ives Society, an organization existing primarily for the purpose of preparing editions of the composer's music, is a book of 40 Earlier Songs.)
The thirty-six early songs that are presented on this first compact disc are the introduction and opening chapter of Ives' musical autobiography. It is 1887 in Danbury, Connecticut. A walk down Main Street brings us to the Ives house. Music is heard from the garden where the family has gathered to bury a beloved pet. Charlie Ives, age thirteen, has composed his first song, "The Slow March," for the occasion. Young Charlie already knows his music. He studied with his father, the imaginative bandmaster, George Ives, who gave his talented second son license to try new things only when he proved he had mastered the old. What is that familiar tune we hear in the piano accompaniment? The musical second son of George Ives has written his song using a tune from Handel's Saul in the accompaniment, thereby setting a lifelong precedent of "borrowing" from earlier sources.
Musical quotation in the music of Ives became characteristic of his style. Later, his use of "found" material became an integral element, interwoven inextricably into the fabric of the music. Compare the first song, "The Slow March" with "Circus Band," composed in a humorous vein, first for brass band, while Ives was a student at Yale. Ives achieved this delightful recreation of the lively scene as the band went down Main Street using an unusual imitation of drumming on the piano. Vernacular sources appear in "In the Alley" (1895) and "A Son of a Gambolier" (1896) both of which were included, as was "Circus Band," in a group called '5 Street Songs and Pieces.' The former was composed "After a session at Poli's" in New Haven where Ives heard ragtime piano pieces and sometimes sat in to play some himself. For the latter, Ives set the popular 19th century drinking song in a brisk two-step time, and in a typical witty note in the score suggested that "A Son of a Gambolier" might be more fun if accompanied by "kazoo chorus, flutes, fiddles and flageolets." Another example of Ives' "borrowing" can be heard in "Waltz." Here he quotes the popular dance tune, "Little Annie Rooney." But Ives' style, even in some of the early songs, is unusualthe quotations are not always exact or complete. As Ives grew as a composer, they appear in snatches, combinations, and transformations that in themselves make their own comment on the scene.
Ives' earliest songs were composed during his busy growing-up life in Danbury, followed by years in New Haven, first at Hopkins Preparatory, later at Yale College (1894-98). One, "At Parting," was composed in its earliest version when Ives was 14 (revised in 1894, the year Ives was accepted at Yale). Charlie's world was filled with school, sports, musical studies, and church jobs. The Danbury newspaper described him at fourteen as "the youngest organist in the State." His first twenty-six years were lived in the 19th century among sounds that were part of turn-of-the century America; Victorian parlour songs, ragtime, gospel music, church hymns, and band music for all occasions. Little that Ives heard had to do with cultivated concert music. Young Charlie took it all in, while his slightly older brother Moss showed little musical interest. George Ives and Charlie had a special bond; Ives always claimed to be most influenced in his life and his music by his innovative father. Ives wrote, "What my father did for me was not only in his teaching, on the technical side, but in his influence, his personality, character, and open-mindedness, and his remarkable understanding of the ways of a boy's heart and mind."
By far, the largest number of Ives' songs are of the household variety so popular in 19th century America. As with Stephen Foster, a favorite of both George and Charles Ives, many of these parlor songs are banal; but like Foster, the best of them transcend the genre. "Songs My Mother Taught Me," a title and subject for hundreds of Civil War "mother" songs, is typical. The absence of written documentation about Ives' mother has been a puzzle to scholars and historians; in his setting of this lovely old-fashioned text set earlier by Dvorak, Ives tells more about Molly Parmelee Ives in song than he did in words.
John Kirkpatrick wrote about Ives' early songs: "[They] give fresh insight into Ives as primarily a melodist but using his whole vocabulary for touches of boyish enthusiasm or humor, impressionist color or mystery and frequent genius. Particularly interesting for us today is the balance between the accepted and the experimental, and his obvious enthusiasm for so much that old-fashioned harmony could still dosuggesting that, in some of his later writing about his earlier music, he remembered a degree of impatience with tradition that was not always true."
Consistent musical style did not interest Ives. He was after "substance." Whether humorous, touching, or satirical, about nature, religion, or politics, Ives was intent on expressing his ideas in music. Toward that end, Ives used whatever texts or musical materials would put forth his ideas most forcibly. Words were drawn from a wide range of sources: well-known 19th century poets such as Tennyson and Shelley, hymns and gospels, traditional songs, news clippings, his wife Harmony or daughter Edith, or Ives himself. "William Will," for example, a Republican campaign song for William McKinley composed in 1896 while Ives was in college, makes use of a poem by a young lady printed in the local newspaper. ("William Will" was one of only three Ives works that were published individually as sheet music.)
Revisionist scholarship points to an abundance of 19th century influences on Ives' output. Earlier supporters emphasized Ives'innovative qualities. These recordings take no such stand: Ives is presented whole, and from the complete picture, the traditional Ives emerges alongside the ultimate protagonist of 20th century musical modernism.
Soprano Dora Ohrenstein has been widely hailed as a gifted interpreter of contemporary vocal repertoire. Having been associated for over a decade with composer Philip Glass as vocal soloist of his ensemble, she has in recent years carved out her own special niche in today's music scene. She is featured in Urban Diva, a music-theater piece in which she portrays a series of characters, and which she has performed at the Spoleto Festival USA, the Cabrillo Festival in Santa Cruz, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Ysbreker in Amsterdam, among other venues. A favorite among composers on the "cutting edge" she has given numerous premieres, including works by Conrad Cummings, Guy Klucevsek, Anthony Davis, Ben Johnston, Scott Johnson and Anne LeBaron. In 1990 she was awarded a Solo Recitalist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the only singer to be so honored in that year. Her work has been recorded by CBS Masterworks, Nonesuch, Private Music, Dossier, CRI and Opus One.
Phillip Bush was awarded the 1983 Beethoven Foundation Fellowship and made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the following year. Since then, he has become increasingly active as solo recitalist and chamber musician, with a particular devotion to the contemporary repertoire. Mr. Bush has collaborated with many of today's most outstanding artists in performances throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. He has appeared as guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performs frequently on New York's Bargemusic series, and has been in residence at the Newport Music Festival since 1983. Mr. Bush has performed throughout the world with the ensembles of composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Scott Johnson. He has appeared as soloist with the Houston and Cincinnati symphonies, among others, and was awarded the NEA Solo Recitalists' Fellowship for the 1992-93 season. Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, where he was a student of Leon Fleisher.
Mezzo soprano Mary Ann Hart has delighted audiences and critics alike with her performances. She has sung with the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, Boston's Banchetto Musicale, and has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Her festival appearances include the Marlboro, Connecticut Early Music, Basically Bach, and San Luis Obispo Mozart Festivals.
Using the international competition as a showcase for her communicative powers, Miss Hart won First Prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Second Prize in the 1987 Carnegie Hall International Competition for American Music, and top prizes in the Washington International and Robert Schumann International Competitions. Recital appearances have taken her to 26 American States, Austria, Germany, and Rumania. She is on the faculty of Vassar College.
Out of sight (but still in earshot) Miss Hart did voice characterizations for the Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast, and has made recordings under the auspices of the Eterna, Arabesque, Telefunken-Decca, Musical Heritage, Chandos, and Nonesuch labels.
Almost from the outset of his career Dennis Helmrich has concentrated on chamber music and the art song literature. It is as a sonata partner and accompanist that he now makes most of his concert appearances, in a busy schedule which in the last few years has taken him to thirty states, Canada, Latin America and Europe, to stages such as Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, and Carnegie Halls in New York, the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, Symphony Hall in Boston, and the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, with artists such as Kathleen Battle, Phyllis Curtin, Richard Stilwell, D'Anna Fortunato,
Eugenia Zukerman and the late, legendary Charles Holland. A continuing interest in contemporary music has led him to first performances of many American compositions, and to recordings on Orion, Spectrum and Nonesuch. Helmrich is a member of the faculties of the State University of New York at Purchase, as well as the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Since 1970 he has been Vocal Coach at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Paul Sperry is recognized as one of today's outstanding interpreters of American music. Although he is equally at home in a repertoire that extends from Monteverdi opera and the Bach Passions to Britten's War Requiem and hundreds of songs in more than a dozen languages, he brings to American music a conviction and an enthusiasm that has brought it to life for countless listeners. Sperry has world premieres of works by more than thirty Americans to his credit including Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Stephen Paulus, Louise Talma and Robert Beaser. He created Jacob Druckman's Animus IV for the opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou at Beaubourg in Paris in 1977, and Bernard Rands' Pulitzer Prize winning Canti del Sole with a New York Philharmonic in 1983 under Zubin Mehta. He teaches a course in American song at the Juilliard School and was formerly President of the American Music Center. He loves the songs of Ives and has been singing many of them since he began giving recitals.
Irma Vallecillo is that rare pianist who puts a prodigious solo technique and remarkable musical gifts at the service of chamber music. Her repertoire is extensive and spans every style from baroque to contemporary. She has premiered more than twenty works, and actively enjoys finding out-of-the-way pieces from every period. She has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Louisville Orchestra, the Utah Symphony and the Casals Festival Orchestra Orchestra among others, but in recent years she has appeared principally as a collaborator with such distinguished artists as Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Galway, Julius Baker, Benny Goodman, Richard Stoltzman, David Shifrin, Sidney Harth, Charles Treger, Aurora Ginastera, Nathaniel Rosen, Paul Neubauer, Walter Trampler, Benita Valente, Bethany Beardslee and Paul Sperry. Ms. Vallecillo has recorded extensively on the RCA, Louisville Orchestra, Moss Music, Delos, Desmar, Orion, Laurel, Avanti and Albany Records labels. She has recently joined the faculty of the Hartt School of Music where she is in charge of building a graduate program in piano chamber music and accompanying.
The extraordinary American baritone William Sharp is widely known as a versatile singer who has received the highest critical acclaim for his work in concert, with orchestra, in opera and on recordings. In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance for his recording featuring the works of American composers on the New World label. As a recitalist, he has appeared in major concert halls throughout the country, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has sung with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has made numerous appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a frequent participant in music festivals, including Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Marlboro, New England and Bethlehem Bach Festivals and the Maryland Handel Festival. In 1987 Mr. Sharp won First Prize in the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition and is also a winner of the Geneva International Competition and the Young concert Artists International Auditions.
Steven Blier enjoys an eminent career as accompanist and musical collaborator. Among the many artists he has partnered in recital are June Anderson, Roberta Peters, Arleen Auger, and Maureen Forrester. Mr. Blier is founder and co-artistic director of the New York Festival of Song, a recital series featuring new works, standard repertoire and rediscoveries, innovative programs, and many of America's finest singers. Their recording of Leonard Bernstein's last work, Arias and Barcarolles, won a 1991 Grammy Award. A champion of American music, Mr. Blier has premiered works by Aaron Kernis, William Bolcom, Lee Hoiby, John Musto, and many others; his repertoire also includes a solo program of ragtime, blues, and stride piano pieces by composers ranging from Copland to Eubie Blake. He is currently on the faculty of SUNY Purchase.
Inscribed to the Children's Faithful Friend
One evening just at sunset
we laid him in the grave;
his heart was true and brave.
All the family joined us,
in solemn march and slow,
from the garden place beneath the trees
and where the sunflowers grow.
There is a certain garden (1893)
There is a certain garden where I know,
That flowers flourish in a poet's spring,
Where aye young birds their matins sing
And never ill wind blows nor any snow,
if you wonder where so fair a show,
where such eternal pleasure may be seen,
my mem'ry keeps that garden green,
that garden green Wherein,
wherein I loved my first love long ago
wherein I loved my first love long ago.
The skies seemed true above thee,
The rose true on the tree,
The bird seemed true the summer through,
But all proved false to me.
World, is there one good thing in you,
Life, love, or death, or what?
Since lips that sang “I love thee”
Now say “I love thee not.”
All love that has not friendship for its base
Is like a mansion built upon the sand.
Though brave its walls as any in the land,
And its tall turrets lift their heads in grace,
Though skilful and accomplished artists trace
Most beautiful, most beautiful designs on ev'ry hand,
Gleaming statues in dim corners stand,
Fountains play in some flower-hidden place;
(All love that has not friendship for its base
is like a mansion built upon the sand.)
When from the frowning east,
When from the frowning east a sudden gust
Of adverse fate is blown,
or sad rains fall, or sad rains fall,
day in, day out, against its yielding wall—
Lo! the fair structure crumbles to the dust.
(All love that has not friendship for its base
is like a mansion built upon the sand.)
Love, to endure life's sorrow and earth's woe,
Must have friendship's solid masonwork below.
A Song For Anything (1898?)
When the waves softly sigh, When the sunbeams die;
When the night shadows fall, Evening bells call,
Margarita! Margarita! I think of thee!
While the silver moon is gleaming, of thee, I'm dreaming.
Yale, Farewell! we must part, But in mind and heart,
We shall ever hold thee near, Be life gay or drear.
Alma Mater! Alma Mater! We will think of thee!
May the strength thou gavest
ever be shown in ways, fair to see.
O have mercy Lord, on me, Thou art ever kind,
O, let me oppress'd with guilt, Thy mercy find.
The joy Thy favor gives, Let me regain,
Thy free spirit's firm support my fainting soul sustain.
Not only in my lady's eyes
All the lore that poets prize is garnered,
She is the soul of all I sing
For though to me belong the pipe, the shell, the string,
She is the soul of all I sing
And she herself is the song, the song
There is no wisdom in my word,
Save what I've sweetly heard my lady,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
O let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy side, a healing flood,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Should my tears forever flow,
Should my zeal no languor know,
All for sin could not atone,
Thou must save, and Thou alone;
In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling,
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyelids close in Death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And see Thee on Thy Judgment Throne,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy Judgment Throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Augustus Montague Toplady
Ballad From Rosamunde (1895?)
Der Vollmond strahlt auf Bergeshöhn
wie hab' ich dich vermisst!
es ist so schön wenn treu die Treue küsst!
Was frommt des Maien holde Zier?
Du warst mein Frühlingsstrahl!
Licht meiner Nacht, Licht meiner Nacht,
o lächle mir im Tode noch ein mal!
Sie trat hinein beim Vollmond schein,
“im Leben fern, im Tode dein!”
und sanft brach Herz an Herz.
The sweetest flow'r that blows, I give you as we part,
For you it is a rose, for me it is my heart,
To you it is a rose, to me it is my heart.
The fragrance it exhales, Ah!, if you but only knew,
where but in dying, dying fails, it is my love,
The sweetest flow'r that blows, I give you as we part,
You think it but a rose, Ah! me it is my heart,
You think it but a rose, Ah! me it is my heart.
The full moon shines on the mountain heights
It is so lovely when I am kissed by the one
The beauty of May means nothing to me,
you were my ray of spring.
You were light to my night, light to my night.
Oh, smile to me in death once more.
She stepped in on the gleam of a moonbeam.
“In life, I am distant, in death I am yours!”
and quietly heart broke upon heart.
All summer long, we boys dreamed
Down Main street, comes the band,
Oh! “Aint it a grand and glorious noise!”
Horses are prancing, Knights advancing;
Helmets gleaming, Pennants streaming,
Cleopatra's on her throne!
That golden hair is all her own.
Where is the lady all in pink?
Last year she waved to me I think,
Can she have died? Can! that! rot!
She is passing but she sees me not.
When Stars Are In The Quiet Skies (1891)
When stars are in the quiet skies,
Then most I long for thee.
O bend on me thy tender eyes,
As stars look down upon the peaceful sea.
For thoughts like waves that glide by night
are stillest when they shine;
All my love lies hushed in light beneath the heav'n,
beneath the heav'n of thine.
There is an hour when holy dreams
Through slumber fairest glide.
And in that mystic hour it seems,
Thou should'st be ever, ever at my side.
The thoughts of thee too sacred are
for daylight's common beam,
I can but know thee as my star,
my guiding star, my angel and my dream.
The hope I dreamed of was a dream,
and now I wake exceeding comfortless,
My silent heart lie still and break;
and my own self are changed,
the same loving sweetheart of old.
In the depths of my heart untold;
May God above His guarding care unfold.
New life would come then,
Such joy never known before;
Qu'il M'irait Bien (1901)
Qu'il m'irait bien, ce ruban vert!
Ce soir à la fête a plus d'une coquette
le coeur battrait moins fier
l'amour veut te l'offrir.
Aux tresses de tes beaux cheveux
qu'il brille plein de gràce;
partout je le suivrai des yeux.
How this green ribbon will flatter me! Tonight at the fète the heart of more than one coquette will beat more faintly as your dear voice expresses a simple desire: there it is, sweet friend, love wants to give you a present. In your beautiful tresses entwined by that net, how elegantly it shines: I shall follow it everywhere with my eyes. In that vast abundance I am lost to you. Symbol of hope, make her dream of me.
Chanson De Florian (1901)
Ah! s'il est dans votre village
sensible et charmant, charmant,
Qu'on chérisse au premier moment,
Qu'on aime en suite d'avantage,
Ah! C'est mon ami, rendez le moi!
j'ai son a mour il a ma foi!
J'ai son amour il a ma foi! ma foi!
Si passant près de sa chaumière
Le pauvre, en voyant son troupeau,
Et qu'il obtienne encor la mère
Si par sa voix tendre, plaintive
Il charme l'écho de vos bois,
Si les accents de son haut bois,
Rendent la bergère pensive
Oh! C'est encor lui rendez le moi.
J'ai son amour, Il a ma foi
J'ai son amour, il a ma foi, ma foi.
Ah! If in your village there is a tender and charming shepherd, whom one finds instantly endearing and whom one loves in pursuit of pleasure — ah! that is my darling. Return him to me! I have his love, he has my faithfulness. If, passing near his thatched cottage and seeing his flock, a beggar asks him for a lamb and is given a ewe instead, that is indeed he. Return him to me! If his soft and plaintive voice charms the echo of your forest, if the accents of his pipe make the shepherdess wistful, that is also he. Return him to me! I have his love, he has my faithfulness.
My native land now meets my eye,
The old oaks raise their boughs on high,
Violets greeting, violets greeting seem,
Ah! 'tis a dream, Ah! tis' a dream.
And when in distant lands I roam,
My heart will wander to my home;
While these visions and fancies teem,
Still let me dream, still let me dream.
The World's Wanderers (1895)
Tell me, star whose wings of light speed thee
In what cavern of the night
will thy pinions close now?
Tell me, moon, thou pale and grey pilgrim
In what depth of night or day,
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide;
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O Lord, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour:
O what but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?
Who like Thyself my guide, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine O Lord, abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee,
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Little Star of Bethlehem!
Do we see Thee shining o'er the tall trees?
Little Child of Bethlehem!
Do we hear Thee in our hearts?
Peace on earth goodwill to men!
O'er the cradle of a King,
In Excelsis Gloria, Gloria!
From His Father's home on high,
Lo! for us He came to die;
Blaw! skirln'win'! raw, tirlin'win'!
In the byre the coo's gly an'warm,
By the fire na wink o' storm,
Whaup on the wing, Snaw on the tree,
Thy mither's breast shall be thy rest
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
Whiles couthie shall guard thee
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
Naething shall fley thy rest,
Sleep on thy mither's breast.
Charles Edmund Merrill Jr.
Through Night and Day (1892?)
I dream of thee, my love, by night,
I think of thee by day, by day;
As long as God may grant me light,
I will be thy stay, will be thy stay.
The night is dark, the day is long,
Unblest with thoughts of thee,
Too dull, too dull to meet the sweetest song,
Unless its theme thou be.
So all day long and all the night,
Whether on the land or sea,
I'll love fore'er with all my might,
That love's all for thee, is all for thee.
Ives, after J.S.B. Monsell
Bland air and leagues of immemorial blue,
No subtlest hint of whitening rime or cold,
A revel of rich colors, hue on hue,
From radiant crimson to softest shades of gold,
The vagueness in the undulant hill line,
The flutter of a bird's south soaring wing,
Aeolian harmonies in the pine,
And glad brook laughter like mirth of spring,
glad brook laughter like mirth of spring, of spring,
A sense of gracious calm afar and near,
And yet a something wanting, something wanting here,
One fine ray for consummation,
ah, love, were you but here,
Then were this day indeed a perfect day.
The young May moon is beaming, love,
The glowworm's lamp is gleaming, gleaming,
How sweet to rove through Morna's grove,
When the drowsy world is dreaming,
Then awake! The heav'ns look bright, my dear,
'Tis ne'er too late for delight,
and best of all the ways to lengthen days
is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear,
to steal a few hours from the night,
When the drowsy world is dreaming,
dreaming, dreaming, love!
After a session at Poli's
Not sung by Caruso, Jenny Lind, John McCormack,
Harry Lauder, George Chappell or the Village Nightingale.
On my way to work one summer day,
just off the main highway,
Through a window in an alley smiled a lass,
O could it be she smiled on me!
All that day, before my eyes,
came the image of that lovely Irish girl,
And hopes would seem to rise,
as the clouds rise in the skies,
When I thought of her and those beaming eyes.
So that evening, dressed up smart and neat,
I wandered down her street,
At the corner of the alley was another man with Sally,
She smiles on him, and only on him!
Has she need of monarch's swaying wand,
Has she need of regent's diamond crown,
Proudest peers in all this land
Bow to that wee jewell'd hand,
For she's a queen, My Lou Jennine,
she's a queen, my Lou Jennine.
Has she lack of leal allies,
ev'ry zealous minion flies
At the bidding of those eyes
Such, such a queen Is my Lou Jennine.
Royal maiden, yours, yours alone
Is the sole sovreignty I own.
Take my heart for a throne
Pleading in this plaintive tone,
To be my queen, My Lou Jennine,
be my queen, my Lou Jennine.
A Republican Campaign Song
What we want is Honest Money,
Good as gold and pure as honey,
Ev'ry dollar sound and true.
What we want is full Protection,
And we'll have it next Election,
For low tariff and low wages make us blue.
For low tariff and low wages make us blue.
So hurrah for Will McKinley and his Bill!
And stand for honest money William will!
So hurrah for Will McKinley, he who made the tariff bill!
And be ruler of this Nation William, William,
And be ruler of this Nation William will.
Juggle not the workman's pence!
For it rouses all his choler,
When he finds his well earn'd dollar
Has been whittled down to only fifty cents!
Has been whittled down to only fifty cents!
Billy Bryan isn't “in it”
Not a single noisy minute,
For McKinley's here himself!
“Rabbits foot” and “four-leaf clover,”
When Election Day is over,
Will be laid to rest upon a quiet shelf!
Will be laid to rest upon a quiet shelf!
Down with all Repudiation!
No dishonor for our Nation!
As we promise we will pay!
And we soon shall hear the humming
of the good times that are coming
When McKinley, surnam'd William, wins the day!
When McKinley, surnam'd William, wins the day!
The mountain stirred its bushy crown,
and as tradition teaches,
Young ashes pirouetted down coquetting,
Coquetting with young beeches;
And shepherds from the mountain eaves,
Looked down, half pleased, half frightened,
As dashed about the drunken leaves,
The random sunshine lightened.
When the distant evening bell
calmly breathes its blessing;
When the moonlight to the trees
speaks in words caressing;
When the stars with radiance gaze
towards the sleeping flowers,
then does nature bare her soul,
Far From My Heav'nly Home (1890-92?)
Far from my heav'nly home,
Far from my Father's breast,
Fainting, I cry, blest Spirit, come,
blest Spirit, come, blest Spirit, come
My spirit homeward turns,
And fain would thither flee;
My heart, O Zion, droops and yearns
My heart, O Zion, droops and yearns,
My heart, O Zion, droops and yearns,
A dark and toilsome road.
when shall I pass the wilderness, the wilderness
And reach the saints' abode,
and reach the saints' abode?
Oh guide me through the desert here
And bring me home at last.
Oh guide me through the desert here
And bring me home at last.
Oh guide me through the desert here
And bring me home at last.
Mir klingt ein Ton so wunderbar
in Herz und Sinnen immer dar.
Ist es der Hauch, der dir entschwebt,
als einmal noch dein Mund gebebt?
Ist es des Glöckleins trüber Klang,
der dir gefolgt den Weg entlang?
Mir klingt der Ton so voll und rein,
als schlöss'er deine Seele ein,
als stiegest liebend nieder du
und sängest meinen Schmerz in Ruh!
I hear a tone so wondrous rare;
It fills my heart, 'tis ever there.
Ah, can it be the last faint breath
That stirr'd your pallid lips ere death?
Is it the tender monotone
Of church bell which for you made moan?
Lo, still it comes so full, so clear,
As though your soul were floating near,
As though with love and yearning deep
You sang my bitter pain to sleep!
Marie, am Fenster sitzest du,
und siehst dem Spiel der Blüten zu,
Der Wand'rer, der vorüber geht,
du bist ja selbst wie ein Gebet,
so fromm, so schön, so gut.
Die Blumenaugen seh'n empor
Die schönste Blum' im Fensterflor
grüsset sie mit süsser Melodie!
O brech' der Strum die Blumen nie,
und nie dein Herz, Marie!
you watch the play of the blossoms
rustling in the evening breeze.
The wanderer who is going past,
doffs his hat respectfully;
you are the image of a prayer,
so pious, so beautiful, so good.
The faces of the flowers look upwards,
in the light of your eyes,
in the light of your eyes.
The most beautiful flower
of all the flowers in the window,
is none other than your face.
greet her with sweet melody.
O' may the stems of the flowers never break,
She is not fair to outward view
Her loveliness I never knew
Oh! then I saw her eye was bright,
A well of love, a spring of light,
But now her looks are coy and cold,
To mine they ne'er reply,
And yet I cease not to behold
The lovelight in her eye:
Her very frowns are fairer far
Than smiles of other maidens are,
than smiles of other maidens are.
We're sitting in the opera house,
the opera house, the opera house;
We're waiting for the curtain to arise
with wonders for our eyes;
We're feeling pretty gay, and well we may,
“The band is tuning up and soon will start to play.”
We whistle and we hum, beat time with the drum.
We whistle and we hum, beat time with the drum,
We're sitting in the opera house,
the opera house, the opera house,
awaiting for the curtain to rise with wonders for our eyes,
a feeling of expectancy, a certain kind of ecstasy,
expectancy and ecstasy, expectancy and ecstasy
From the street a strain on my ear doth fall,
A tune as threadbare as that “old red shawl,”
It is tattered, it is torn,
it shows signs of being worn,
It's the tune my Uncle hummed from early morn,
'Twas a common little thing and kind 'a sweet,
But 'twas sad and seemed to slow up both his feet;
I can see him shuffling down to the barn or to the town,
Round and round the old dance ground,
Went the whirling throng,
moved with wine and song;
Was as gay as birds in May,
Far and wide's the fame of the bride,
everyone knows it's “Joe;”
All that day, held full sway
Songs My Mother Taught Me (1895)
Songs my mother taught me
in the days long vanished,
were the teardrops banished,
were the teardrops banished
Now I teach my children each melodious measure
often tears are flowing, flowing from my memory's treasure.
Songs my mother taught me
were the teardrops banished,
were the teardrops banished.
A Son Of A Gambolier (1895)
Come join my humble ditty,
From Tippery town I steer,
Like ev'ry honest fellow,
Like ev'ry honest fellow,
I'm a rambling rake of poverty,
I wish I had a barrel of rum,
And sugar three hundred pound,
The college bell to mix it in,
The clapper to stir it round;
I'd drink the health of dear old Yale,
And friends both far and near.
I'm a rambling rake of poverty,
The Complete Songs of Charles Ives · Vol. I
Dora Ohrenstein, soprano · Phillip Bush, piano-1
Mary Ann Hart, mezzo soprano · Dennis Helmrich, piano-2
Paul Sperry, tenor · Irma Vallecillo, piano-3
William Sharp, baritone · Steven Blier, piano-4
There is a Certain Garden-2 (1:47)
A Song for Anything-4 (2:39)
Ballad from Rosamunde-1 (2:12)
When Stars are in the Quiet Skies
(Country Celestial)-2 (2:55)
Qu'il m'irait bien-1 (1:02)
Chanson de Florian-2 (1:44)
World's Wanderers-1 (1:53)
Through Night and Day-3 (1:55)
Far from my Heavenly Home-2 (3:51)
Songs My Mother Taught Me-2 (2:26)
Son of a Gambolier-3 (2:47)
Additional performers for Son of a Gambolier include Jayn Rosenfeld, piccolo
and Eva Kokoris, Jerrold Seigel, Jeanette Thompson, Albert K. Webster, and Eric Zivian, kazoo chorus.
Producer & Engineer: Judith Sherman · Executive Producer: Dora Ohrenstein
This recording is made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Recording Date: September 17-27, 1991
Recording Location: American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York
Photograph of Charles Ives Courtesy of the Danbury Scott-Fanton Museum & Historical Society.
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