ChoralWiki:Texts of works not yet added

Texts on this page have been added by contributors for works which are currently not represented on CPDL in one or more editions. When an edition of the relevant work has been indexed, the text should be moved to that page. A blue link in the subtitles below indicate that a score page exists for the work in question. Texts are sorted by composer surname.

Lo, the full, final sacrifice (Gerald Finzi)

English text

Lo, the full, final Sacrifice

On which all figures fix’t their eyes.

The ransomed Isaac, and his ram;

The Manna, and the Paschal Lamb.

Jesu Master, just and true!

Our Food, and faithful Shepherd too!

O let that love which thus makes thee

Mix with our low Mortality,

Lift our lean Souls, and set us up

Convictors of thine own full cup,

Coheirs of Saints. That so all may

Drink the same wine; and the same way.

Nor change the Pasture, but the Place

To feed of Thee in thine own Face.

O dear Memorial of that Death

Which lives still, and allows us breath!

Rich, Royal food! Bountiful Bread!

Whose use denies us to the dead!

Live ever Bread of loves, and be

My life, my soul, my surer self to me.

Help Lord, my Faith, my Hope increase;

And fill my portion in thy peace.

Give love for life; nor let my days

Grow, but in new powers to thy name and praise.

Rise, Royal Sion! rise and sing

Thy soul’s kind shepherd, thy heart’s King.

Stretch all thy powers; call if you can

Harps of heaven to hands of man.

This sovereign subject sits above

The best ambition of thy love.

Lo the Bread of Life, this day’s

Triumphant Text provokes thy praise.

The living and life-giving bread,

To the great twelve distributed

When Life, himself, at point to die

Of love, was his own Legacy.

O soft self-wounding Pelican!

Whose breast weeps Balm for wounded man.

All this way bend thy benign flood

To’a bleeding Heart that gasps for blood.

That blood, whose least drops sovereign be

To wash my worlds of sins from me.

Come love! Come Lord! and that long day

For which I languish, come away.

When this dry soul those eyes shall see,

And drink the unseal’d source of thee.

When Glory’s sun faith’s shades shall chase,

And for thy veil give me thy Face.

Amen.

from Richard Crashaw’s versions of the Hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas, Adoro Te and Lauda Sion Salvatorem.

T'amai gran tempo (Stefano Landi)

Italian text [1] T'amai gran tempo e sospirai mercede. Tu m'hai tradito ogn'hor priva di fede. Hor va con novi amanti a far tue prove, ch'io son già stufo, e m'ho provisto altrove.                  Hor vanne mò                  ch'io non ti vuò, ch'io son già stufo, e m'ho provisto altrove.                  Hor vanne mò,                  ch'io non ti vuò, che già di là dal Pò passato è 'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo. [2] Mille volte io piangeva, e tu ridevi; mille volte io rideva, e tu piangevi. Così cortese i più felici amanti schernisti cruda in giochi, in risi, in pianti.                  Hor grida mò,                  ch'io sordo stò, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Hor grida mò,                  ch'io sordo stò, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo. [3] Se mi fè cieco, Amor, quando t'amai, hoggi son Argo, e vedo più che mai. Hor va con nuovi amanti a tender l'hamo, ch'io son già pieno, e sfuggo il tuo richiamo.                  Hor resta mò,                  ch'io sciolto vo, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Hor resta mò,                  ch'io sciolto vo, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo. [4] Non son più gl'occhi tuoi stelle d'amore, ch' eran lume al pensiero, e fiamme al core, ma neglette fenestre, onde s'aprio a libertade sua pur il cor mio.                  Non creder, no,                  ch'io tornerò, ch'io son già stufo, e m'ho provisto altrove.                  Non creder, no,                  ch'io tornerò, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo. [5] Ti fui fedel all'hor che fui gradito, e qui lasciarti vuò, se m'hai tradito. Hor vanne a porre a novi amanti il vischio, ch'io son già sciolto, e più non sento il fischio.                  Hor crepa mò,                  ch'io non ti vuò, che già di là dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Hor vanne mò,                  ch'io non ti vuò, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo [6] Se talento ti vien' di dar martello, guardati il volto, che non è più quello. Hor le tue labra d'oro e'l crin d'argento ricco mi fanno sol di pentimento.                  Hor non più, no,                  t'adorerò,                  ch'io non ti vuò, ch'io son già stufo, e m'ho provisto altrove.                  Hor non più, no,                  t'adorerò, che già di la dal Pò passato è'l merlo.                  Corri, corri a vederlo.

English translation I loved you long and for your favors did sigh; You betrayed me, and all my faith did belie. Have your new lovers and see what you can do, for I am fed up and have looked elsewhere, too.                  Now you can go,                  I don't want you, you know, because I'm fed up and have looked elsewhere, too.                  It really is so,                  I don't want you, you know, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go. I cried a thousand times and you just laughed; To a thousand of my laughs you poured out cries. You scorned the happiest lovers with smiling craft, cruel woman, with your games, your tears, your lies.                  Shout your woe,                  I'm deaf now, you know, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Shout your woe,                  I'm deaf now, you know, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go. If you, Cupid, blinded me, when I did love, now Argos, I see what's beneath and above. Have your new lovers and throw them a lure; I've had it, and now can't be caught, I am sure.                  You stay, I'll go,                  I'm free now, you know, for the blackbird has flown right over the Po.                  You stay, I'll go,                  I'm free now, you know, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go. I no longer see your eyes as stars of love that lit my thoughts and were my heart's temptation; they are now but hollow windows onto which my heart may look and see his liberation.                  Don't think it so,                  That I'll return, oh, no, because I'm fed up and have looked elsewhere, too.                  Don't think it so,                  That I'll return, oh, no, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go I was faithful to you while you wanted me, and here I give you up, for your treachery. Go and set your bird traps for new lovers, I won't hear you call, I have my liberty.                  Go hoe your row,                  I don't want you, you know, for the blackbird has flown right over the Po.                  Now you can go,                  I don't want you, you know, for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go. Any trouble you'd make is nothing because I look at your face, which is not what it was. Your golden lips, now, and your silvery hair make me rich with only regret, I do swear.                  No more, oh no,                  will my love I bestow,                  not on you, no, for I am fed up and have looked elsewhere, too.                  No more, oh no,                  will my love I bestow for the blackbird has flown and passed over the Po.                  Hurry, hurry, and see him go.

Fill thou my life (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)

English text

1.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,

In every part with praise,

That my whole being may proclaim

Thy being and Thy ways.

Not for the lip of praise alone,

Nor e’en the praising heart

I ask, but for a life made up

Of praise in every part!

2.

Praise in the common words I speak,

Life’s common looks and tones,

In fellowship in hearth and board

With my belovèd ones;

Not in the temple crowd alone

Where holy voices chime,

But in the silent paths of earth,

The quiet rooms of time.

3.

Fill every part of me with praise;

Let all my being speak

Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,

Poor though I be, and weak.

So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, e’en me,

Receive the glory due;

And so shall I begin on earth

The song forever new.

4.

So shall each fear, each fret, each care

Be turned into a song,

And every winding of the way

The echo shall prolong;

So shall no part of day or night

From sacredness be free;

But all my life, in every step

Be fellowship with Thee.

Lyrics: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, third ser­ies, 1866

O word of pity (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)

English text

1.

O word of pity, for our pardon pleading,

Breathed in the hour of loneliness and pain;

O voice, which through the ages interceding,

Calls us to fellowship with God again.

2.

O word of comfort, through the silence stealing,

As the dread act of sacrifice began;

O infinite compassion, still revealing

The infinite forgiveness won for man.

3.

O word of hope to raise us nearer heaven,

When courage fails us and when faith is dim;

The souls for whom Christ prays to Christ are given,

To find their pardon and their joy in Him.

4.

O Intercessor, who art ever living

To plead for dying souls that they may live,

Teach us to know our sin which needs forgiving,

Teach us to know the love which can forgive.

Lyrics: Ada R. Greenaway, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1904