St. Joseph Community Chorus Program Text October 20, 2024

Liebeslieder Waltzes (Love Song Waltzes), Brahms

1. Tell Me, Dear Girl

 

Tell me, dear girl, whom I love too much,

Who has thrown into my cool heart, with just

a look,

These wild, hot feelings!

Won’t you soften your heart?

Do you want to remain a pious saint,

Without sweet bliss?

Or do you want me to come to you?

Live without sweet bliss?

I would never suffer so bitterly.

But come, you dark-eyed beauty;

Come when the stars are greeting.

 

2. The Tide Rushes Over the Rocks

 

The tide rushes over the rocks,

Driven violently;

Those there, who don’t know how to sigh,

Learn it from loving.

 

3. Oh Women

 

Oh women, oh women, How they delight!

I would have become a monk a long time ago

If it were not for women!

 

4. Like the Lovely Blush of the Evening

 

Like the lovely blush of the evening,

I, a poor girl, would glow

To please One, one special person,

In bliss forever.

 

5. The Green Hops Vine

 

The green hops vine,

It winds down to the earth.

The young, lovely girl,

Her thoughts are so sad.

Listen, green tendril!

Why don’t you lift yourself up to the sky?

Listen, lovely girl,

Why is your heart so hard?

How would the vine suspend itself

If no support offers it strength?

How will the girl be happy

When her Love is far away?

 

 

6. A Small, Pretty Bird

 

A small, pretty bird

Took flight back to the garden;

There was enough fruit there.

If I were a pretty little bird

I would not delay, I would do just as he.

The malice of lime branches, Lurks in the place;

The poor bird could not escape.

If I were a pretty little bird,I would wait,

I would not do as he.

The bird landed in a lovely hand,

And was safe there,That lucky thing!

If I were a pretty little bird

I would not delay, I would do just as he.

 

8. When Your Eyes Look at Me So Gently

 

When your eyes look at me so gently

And gaze so sweetly,

Every last disturbing cloud flies away.

The beautiful glow of this love,

Don’t let it vanish!

Never will another love you as faithfully as I do.

 

9. On the Danube Shore

 

On the Danube shore, there stands a house,

There, a rosy girl looks out.

The girl is guarded well;

Ten bars of iron are placed in front of the door.

Ten bars of iron, this is a fun game;

I will blast them like they were made of glass!

 

10. Oh, How Gently

 

Oh, how gently the stream

winds through the meadow!

Oh, how delightful, when Love itself finds love!

 

11. No, You Can’t Get Along with People

 

No, you can’t get along with people;

Everything they know

gets a toxic interpretation.

If I’m cheerful, they say I cherish loose morals;

If I’m quiet, they say I’m going crazy about love.

 

12. Locksmith, Go and Make Locks

 

Locksmith, go and make locks,

As many locks as you can;

Then I will shut the evil mouths altogether.

 

13. The Little Bird Rushes Through the Air

 

The little bird rushes through the air,

Looking for a branch;

And your heart, a heart, a heart’s desire,

Where there is blessed rest.

 

14. See How Clear the Ripples Are

 

See how clear the ripples are

As the moon looks down!

You who are my Love,

Love me again!

 

15. The Nightingale Sings So Beautifully

 

The nightingale sings so beautifully

When the stars twinkle.

Love me, beloved heart,

Kiss me in the dark!

 

16. Love Is a Dark Shaft

 

Love is a dark shaft,

A far too dangerous well;

I fell in, poor me,

And can neither hear nor see;

I can only think on my pleasures

And only groan in my pains.

 

18. The Bushes Tremble

 

The bushes tremble;

A little bird streaked them in flight.

In the same way,

My soul trembles, shaken by

Love, Pleasure and Sorrow,

As it thinks of your soul.

 

 

Liebeslieder Polkas by P.D.Q Bach (Peter Schicklee)

 

Program Note: P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer created by the American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele for a five-decade career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines parodies of musicological scholarship, the conventions of Baroque and Classical music, and slapstick comedy.

 

 

 

 

1. To His Coy Mistress

 

Had we but world enough, and time

This coyness, lady, were no crime

We would sit down and think which way,

To walk and pass our long love’s day.

What say? No way? Okay.

But at my back always hear

Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.

 

The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

What say? No way? Okay.

Let us roll all, all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball.

 

Thus though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we can make him run. Hey!

 

2. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old time is still a flying, And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of Heaven, the sun, the higher he’s a getting, The sooner will his race be won,

And nearer he’s to setting.

The age is best which is the first, when youth and blood are warmer

But being spent, the worse, and worst times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time, and while y3 may, go marry. Quite contrary. For having lost but once your prime, you may forever tarry.

And the pirates.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a flying,

And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying!

 

3. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

 

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods or steepy mountain yields.

 

And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.

 

Twitter twitter, tweet, tweet!

And I will make three beds of roses.

And a thousand fragrant posies

A cap of flowers and a kirtle,

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.

 

A gown made of the finest wool,

Which from our pretty lambs we pull,

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold.

 

A belt of straw and ivy buds.

With coral clasps and amber studs,

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my love.

Come live with me and be my love.

 

 

 

4. Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover?

 

Why so pale and wan, fond lover?

Prithee why so pale.

Will, when looking well can’t move her,

Looking ill prevail?

Prithee why so pale?

 

Why so dull and mute, young sinner?

Prithee why so mute?

Will, when speaking well can’t win her,

Saying nothing do”t.

Prithee, why so mute?

 

Quit, quit, for shame, this will not move.

This cannot take her.

If herself she will not love,

Nothing can make her.

The devil take her!

 

5. It Was a Lover and His Lass

 

It was a lover and his lass,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,

That o’er the green cornfield did pass

 

Chorus

In the spring time, the spring time,

The only pretty ring time

When birds do sing, hey din a ding, ding:

Sweet lovers love the spring.

 

Between the acres of the rye,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino.

These pretty country folk would lie.

 

This carol they began that hour,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,

How that a life was but a flower.

 

And therefore take the present time,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino.

For love is crowned with the prime.

 

A Nightengale Sang in Berkeley Square, arr. Puerling

 

That certain night, The night we met
There was magic abroad in the air
There were angels dining at the Ritz
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

 

I may be right, I may be wrong
But I'm perfectly willing to swear
That when you turned and smiled at me
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

 

The moon that lingered over London town
Poor puzzled moon, wore such a frown
How could he know we two were so in love
The whole darn world seemed upside down

 

The streets of town were paved with stars
It was such a romantic affair
And when you turned and smiled at me
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

 

How strange it was, How sweet and strange
There was never a dream to compare
What that hazy, crazy night we met
When a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

 

Ah, this heart of mine beat loud and fast
Like a merry go round in a fair
And we were dancing cheek to cheek
When a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

 

When dawn came stealing up
All gold and blue
To interrupt our rendezvous
I still remember when you smiled and said
Was that a dream or was it true?

 

Our homeward steps were just as light
As the dancing feet of Astaire
And like an echo far away
A nightingale sang in Berk-
That night in Berkeley

That night in Berkeley Square

 

In Caritate by Timothy Jon Thraldson

 

With all humility and gentleness,

With patience,

Bearing with one another in love,

Making every effort to maintain the unity

Of the spirit in the bond of peace.

 

Oh My Luve’s Like A Red, Red Rose by Rene Clausen

 

O my Love’s like a red, red rose

That’s newly sprung in June

O my Love’s like a meldodie

That’s sweetly played in tune.

 

As fair art though my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I,

I will luve thee still my dear,

Till a’ the seas, ‘till a’ the seas gang dry

 

I will luve thee still my dear,

While the sands of life shall run,

Till the seas gang dry,

and rocks melt with the sun.

 

As fair art though my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve amd I,

I will luve thee still my dear,

Tho’ it were ten thousand,

Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.