Songs of Travel

Song Cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)

Translated to:

Catalan (Català) — Cançons de viatge (Salvador Pila)
Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) — Kelionės dainos (Giedrius Prunskus)

1. The vagabond
(Sung text)

Language: English

Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The vagabond", subtitle: "To an air of Schubert", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 1, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Il vagabondo", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: "lave" = "that which is left"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Let Beauty awake
(Sung text)

Language: English

Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams,
Beauty awake from rest!
Let Beauty awake
For Beauty's sake
In the hour when the birds awake in the brake
And the stars are bright in the west!

Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber of day,
Awake in the crimson eve!
In the day's dusk end
When the shades ascend,
Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend,
To render again and receive!

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 9

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Que desperti la Bellesa", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "Die Schönheit erwacht!", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Che si desti Bellezza", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Lai grožis pabus", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. The roadside fire
(Sung text)

Language: English

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight
Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night,
I will make a palace fit for you and me
Of green days in forests, and blue days at sea.

I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room,
Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom;
And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white
In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.

And this shall be for music when no one else is near,
The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!
That only I remember, that only you admire,
Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 11, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "Romanze", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Lucio Forte) , "Farò spille e balocchi per tua delizia", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Note: first published in Pall Mall Gazette, January 1895
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Youth and love
(Sung text)

Language: English

To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside.
Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand,
Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide,
Nestle in orchard bloom, and far on the level land
Call him with lighted lamp in the eventide.

Thick as stars at night when the moon is down,
Pleasures assail him. He to his nobler fate
Fares; and but waves a hand as he passes on,
Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate,
Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Youth and Love II", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 3

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Sebastian Viebahn) , "Der Junge und die Liebe", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Lucio Forte) , "Gioventù e amore", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Gerard Graham Peel may have used this text for his setting Youth and Love
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. In dreams
(Sung text)

Language: English

In dreams unhappy, I behold you stand
As heretofore:
The unremember'd tokens in your hand
Avail no more.

No more the morning glow, no more the grace,
Enshrines, endears.
Cold beats the light of time upon your face
And shows your tears.

He came and went. Perchance you wept awhile
And then forgot.
Ah me! but he that left you with a smile
Forgets you not.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 4, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "Im Traum", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Nei sogni", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6. The infinite shining heavens
(Sung text)

Language: English

The infinite shining heavens
Rose, and I saw in the night
Uncountable angel stars
Showering sorrow and light.

I saw them distant as heaven,
Dumb and shining and dead,
And the idle stars of the night
Were dearer to me than bread.

Night after night in my sorrow
The stars looked over the sea,
Till lo! I looked in the dusk
And a star had come down to me.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 6

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Els cels infinits i resplendents", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "I cieli splendenti e infiniti", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Spindįs begalinis dangus", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

7. Whither must I wander?
(Sung text)

Language: English

Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?
Hunger my driver, I go where I must.
Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather:
Thick drives the rain and my roof is in the dust.
Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree,
The true word of welcome was spoken in the door -
Dear days of old with the faces in the firelight,
Kind folks of old, you come again no more.

Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces,
Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child.
Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland;
Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild.
Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland,
Lone stands the house, and the chimney-stone is cold.
Lone let it stand, now the friends are all departed,
The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old.

Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl,
Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers;
Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley,
Soft flow the stream through the even-flowing hours.
Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood -
Fair shine the day on the house with open door;
Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney -
But I go for ever and come again no more.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 16, to the tune of Wandering Willie, first published 1896

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

First published in Scots Observer, January 1889
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

8. Bright is the ring of words
(Sung text)

Language: English

Bright is the ring of words
When the right man rings them,
Fair the fall of songs
When the singer sings them,
Still they are carolled and said -
On wings they are carried -
After the singer is dead
And the maker buried.

Low as the singer lies
In the field of heather,
Songs of his fashion bring
The swains together.
And when the west is red 
With the sunset embers,
The lover lingers and sings
And the maid remembers.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 14, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

9. I have trod the upward and the downward slope
(Sung text)

Language: English

I have trod the upward and the downward slope;
I have endured and done in days before;
I have longed for all, and bid farewell to hope;
And I have lived and loved, and closed the door.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 22

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 958

Songs of Travel

Song Cycle by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)

Translated to:

1. The vagabond (Sung text)

2. Let Beauty awake (Sung text)

3. The roadside fire (Sung text)

4. Youth and love (Sung text)

5. In dreams (Sung text)

6. The infinite shining heavens (Sung text)

7. Whither must I wander? (Sung text)

8. Bright is the ring of words (Sung text)

9. I have trod the upward and the downward slope (Sung text)

1. The vagabond
(Sung text)

2. Let Beauty awake
(Sung text)

3. The roadside fire
(Sung text)

4. Youth and love
(Sung text)

5. In dreams
(Sung text)

6. The infinite shining heavens
(Sung text)

7. Whither must I wander?
(Sung text)

8. Bright is the ring of words
(Sung text)

9. I have trod the upward and the downward slope
(Sung text)