THREE SONGS ON TEXTS OF OSCAR WILDE (1987)
by RAOUL PLESKOW
Title: Three Songs On Texts Of Oscar Wilde
Three Songs On Poems Of Oscar Wilde
Three Songs Of Oscar Wilde
Date of Composition: 1987
Instrumentation: voice, piano
Publisher: American Composers Alliance
Date of Publication: 1987
Duration: 8 minutes
Recordings:
Turnabout Records
Notes:
The three songs are on different poems. Theocritus - A Villanelle
is set in its entirety, while Holy Week at Genoa and Rome
Unvisited have only several lines set. The texts are:
Theocritus - A Villanelle
O singer of Persephone!
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amaryllis lies in state;
O Singer of Persephone!
Simaetha calls on Hecate
And hears the wild dogs at the gate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate;
O Singer of Persephone!
And still in boyish rivalry
Young Daphnis challenges his mate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?
Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee,
For thee the jocund shepherds wait;
O Singer of Persephone!
Dost thou remember Sicily?
From HOLY WEEK AT GENOA
Outside the young boy-priest passed singing clear,
'Jesus the son of Mary has been slain,
O come and fill His sepulchre with flowers.'
Ah, God! Ah, God! those dear Hellenic hours
Had drowned all memory of Thy bitter pain,
The Cross, the Crown, the Soldiers and the Spear.
From ROME UNVISITED
I.
O Roma, Roma, at thy feet
I lay this barren gift of song!
For, ah! the way is steep and long
That leads unto thy sacred street.
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Created: September 6, 1998
Last Updated: November 12, 2001