Elaine Glinos: Lyrics and Translations

April 8, 2025

Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken

by Hugo Wolf
Text by P. Heyse

Even small things can delight us,
Even small things can be precious.
Think how gladly we deck ourselves with pearls;
They fetch a great price but are only small.
Think how small the olive is,
And yet it is prized for its goodness.
Think only of the rose, how small it is,
And yet smells so lovely, as you know.

Sole e amore

by Giacomo Puccini

The sun cheerfully
Beats at your window. Love
Softly beats at your heart,
And both of them call out.
The sun says: O sleeping one,
Show yourself, for you are beautiful.
Love says: Sister,
With your first thought, think of the one who loves you!
To Paganini, from G. Puccini

Trois mélodies

by Erik Satie

No. 1 La statue de bronze (L. Fargue)

The frog of the barrel game
Grows weary in the evening, beneath the arbor...
She has had enough!
Of being the statue
Who is about to [hurl into the silence] a great word: The Word!

She would love to be with the others
Who make music bubbles
With the soap of the moon
Beside the lustrous bronze tub
That one sees there, shining between the branches...

At midday one hurls at her
A feast of discs
That pass through without benefit to her

And will resound
In the chambers
Of her numbered pedestal!

And at night, the insects go to sleep
In her mouth...

No. 2 Daphénéo (M. Godebska)

Tell me, Dapheneo, what is that tree
The fruit of which is weeping birds?

That tree, Chrysaline, is a bird-tree.

Ah! I believe that trees
Produce hazelnuts, Dapheneo.

Yes, Chrysaline, nut trees give hazelnuts,
But bird-trees give weeping birds.

Ah!...

No. 3 Le chapelier (R. Chalupt)

The hatmaker is surprised to note
That his watch is three days slow,
Though he has taken care to grease it,
Always with first-quality butter.
But he allowed crumbs of bread
To fall into its gears,
And though he plunged his watch in tea,
This will not advance it any further.

Άστα τα μαλλάκια σου/Asta ta mallakia sou (Let your tender hair fall untidily)

Greek folk song

Let your tender hair fall down in a mess untidy
let it blow wildly in the southern wind
Now that your adolescence is in youthful full bloom
Let your tender hair fall down in a mess untidy

Look at the extensiveness of the deep blue sea
and let your hair blow wildly in the southern wind
Let your tender hair fall down in a mess untidy
let it blow wildly in the southern wind

Now that spring already arrived summer will soon come
and fall will then soon after come in a gloomy mood
on your shoulder foolishly my hand I was extending
Now that spring already arrived summer will soon come

They will tell you a thousand times a thousand I love yous
and fall will then soon after come in a gloomy mood
Let your tender hair fall down in a mess untidy
let it blow wildly in the southern wind

Les chemins de l’amour

by Francis Poulenc
Text by J. Anouilh

The paths that lead to the sea
Have retained from our passing
The flowers that shed their petals
And the echo beneath their trees
Of our clear laughter.
Alas! no trace of those happy days,
Those radiant joys now flown,
Can I find again
In my heart.

Paths of my love,
I search for you ceaselessly,
Lost paths, you are no more
And your echoes are muted.
Paths of despair,
Paths of memory,
Paths of our first day,
Divine paths of love.

If one day I must forget,
Since life obliterates everything,
I wish for my heart to remember one thing,
More vivid than the other love,
To remember the path
Where trembling and quite distracted,
One day I felt your burning/passionate hands on me.

Vieni, vieni, o mio diletto

Antonio Vivaldi
Poet unknown

Come, come, oh my delight,
For my heart, full of affection,
Already awaits you and calls to you always.
My heart, full of affection,
Already awaits you and already calls to you.

O Let Him Kiss Me

from Seven Tableaux
by Srul Irving Glick
Text from The Song of Songs

O, let him kiss me,
For his love is sweeter than wine.
The sound of his sweet name
Echoes silently in my heart.
The presence of his scent
Lingers in my soul.
How surpassingly wonderful is love!

Sechs Lieder

by Edvard Grieg

No. 1 Gruß (H. Heine)

A sweet sound of bells
Peals gently through my soul.
Ring out, little song of spring,
Ring out far and wide.
Ring out till you reach the house
Where violets are blooming.
And if you should see a rose,
Send her my greeting.

No. 2 Dereinst, Gedanke mein (E. Geibel)

One day, my thoughts,
You shall be at rest.
Though love’s ardour
Gives you no peace,
You shall sleep well
In cool earth;
There without love
And without pain
You shall be at rest.

What you did not find in life
Will be granted you
When life has ended.
Then, free from torment
And free from pain,
You shall be at rest.

No. 3 Lauf der Welt (L. Uhland)

Every evening I go out,
Up the meadow path.
She looks out from her summer house,
Which stands close by the road.
We’ve never planned a rendezvous,
It’s just the way of the world.

I don’t know how it came about,
For a long time I’ve been kissing her,
I don’t ask, she doesn’t say yes!
But neither does she ever say no!
When lips are pleased to rest on lips,
We don’t prevent it, it just seems good.

The little breeze plays with the rose,
It doesn’t ask: do you love me?
The rose cools itself with dew,
It doesn’t dream of saying: give!
I love her, she loves me,
But neither says: I love you!

No. 4 Die verschwiegene Nachtigall (W. Vogelweide)

Under the lime trees, by the heath, where I sat with my beloved,
There you may find how both of us crushed the flowers and grass.
Outside the wood, with a sweet sound,
Tandaradei! The nightingale sang in the valley.

I came walking to the meadow, my beloved arrived before me.
I was received as a noble lady, which still fills me with bliss.
Did he offer me kisses?
Tandaradei! See how red my mouth is!

If anyone knew how I lay there, God forbid, I’d be ashamed.
How my darling hugged me, no one shall know but he and I—
And a little bird,
Tandaradei! Who certainly won’t say a word.

No. 5 Zur Rosenzeit (J. Goethe)

You fade, sweet roses,
My love did not wear you;
Ah! you bloom for one bereft of hope,
Whose soul now breaks with grief!

Sorrowfully I think of those days,
When I, my angel, set my heart on you,
And waiting for the first little bud,
Went early to my garden;

Laid all the blossoms, all the fruits
At your very feet,
With hope beating in my heart,
When you looked at me.

You fade, sweet roses,
My love did not wear you;
Ah! you bloom for one bereft of hope,
Whose soul now breaks with grief!

No. 6 Ein Traum (F. Bodenstedt)

I once dreamed a beautiful dream:
A blonde maiden loved me,
It was in the green woodland glade,
It was in the warm springtime:

The buds bloomed, the forest stream swelled,
From the distant village came the sound of bells—
We were so full of bliss,
So lost in happiness.

And more beautiful yet than the dream,
It happened in reality,
It was in the green woodland glade,
It was in the warm springtime:

The forest stream swelled, the buds bloomed,
From the village came the sound of bells—
I held you fast, I held you long,
And now shall never let you go!

O woodland glade so green with spring!
You shall live in me for evermore—
There reality became a dream,
There the dream became reality!

Το πάπλωμα/To paploma (The Quilt)

Greek folk song

Though my heart is big, my cabin
Is a very tiny place
Where, except for you and me
Nobody else fits in the space

Refrain:
And that cotton quilt of mine
Is for two, and that's just fine
There's no patch that you can find
On that cotton quilt of mine

Now a master is what's needed
By the rider's saddle horse
And here in my little cabin
I'm the landlord and the boss

Refrain

Hold Fast to Dreams

by Florence Price
Text by L. Hughes

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Après un rêve

by Gabriel Fauré
Text by R. Bussine

In sleep made sweet by a vision of you
I dreamed of happiness, fervent illusion,
Your eyes were softer, your voice pure and ringing,
You shone like a sky that was lit by the dawn;

You called me and I departed the earth
To flee with you toward the light,
The heavens parted their clouds for us,
We glimpsed unknown splendours, celestial fires.

Alas, alas, sad awakening from dreams!
I summon you, O night, give me back your delusions;
Return, return in radiance,
Return, O mysterious night!

La nuit

by Pauline Viardot
Text by L. Pomey

On the summits of the misty mountains, night descends from the heavens
With a dreamy and dark eye, the Goddess roams the fields oppressed by sleep
The springs alone raise their voices among the silence of the meadows, of the woods,
The springs rise, soar, and sing without end

As the hour passes and flees, the night listens to their story
The chaste night, the tranquil Goddess of the elements, the eternal mistress
And as long as the joyful rays of the day have not awakened the earth and the heavens:
The springs rise, soar, and sing
And sing without end!