LYRICS TO THE BARN DINNER
“Spring Morning” by Gustav Mahler
The lime tree knocks on the window.
Covered with blossom branches:
Get up! Get up!
What are you lying on in your dream?
The sun has risen!
Get up! Get up!
The lark is awake, the bushes are blowing!
Bees and beetles are buzzing!
Get up! Get up!
And I’ve already seen your cheerful love.
Get up, late riser!
Late risers, get up!
Get up! Get up!
Zaide’s aria “Tiger! wetze nur die Klauen” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Tiger! Just sharpen your claws,
rejoice in the spoils you have stolen.
Punish a foolish trust
on disguised tenderness .
Just come quickly and kill us both,
suck the warm blood of innocence.
Tiger! tear the heart from the guts
and satiate your anger.
Tiger! Tiger!
Oh my Gomatz! with us poor things
fate has no mercy.
Only death, only death
ends our bitter distress.
Tiger! just sharpen your claws, etc.
Richard Strauss – “Serenade”
Open up, open up! but quietly, my child,
Not to wake anyone from their slumber!
The stream barely murmurs, barely trembles in the wind
A leaf on the bushes and hedges;
So quietly, my girl, that nothing stirs,
Just quietly put your hand on the handle!
With kicks, like kicks of the elves so gentle,
To hop over the flowers,
Fly lightly out into the moonlit night,
To slip into the garden with me!
All around, the flowers slumber by the trickling stream
And scent in sleep, only love is awake.
Sit down! Here it dawns mysteriously
Under the lime trees.
The nightingale shall be at our head
Dreaming of our kisses
And the rose when it wakes up in the morning,
Glowing high from the night’s showers of delight.
“Chevaux de bois” by Claude Debussy
Tournez, tournez, bons chevaux de bois,
Tournez cent tours, tournez mille tours,
Tournez souvent et tournez toujours,
Tournez, tournez au son des hautbois.
L’enfant tout rouge et la mère blanche,
Le gars en noir et la fille en rose,
L’une à la chose et l’autre à la pose,
Chacun se paie un sou de dimanche.
Tournez, tournez, chevaux de leur cœur,
Tandis qu’autour de tous vos tournois
Clignote l’œil du filou sournois,
Tournez au son du piston vainqueur!
C’est étonnant comme ça vous soûle
D’aller ainsi dans ce cirque bête:
Rien dans le ventre et mal dans la tête,
Du mal en masse et du bien en foule.
Tournez, dadas, sans qu’il soit besoin
D’user jamais de nuls éperons
Pour commander à vos galops ronds:
Tournez, tournez, sans espoir de foin.
Et dépêchez, chevaux de leur âme,
Déjà voici que sonne à la soupe
La nuit qui tombe et chasse la troupe
De gais buveurs que leur soif affame.
Tournez, tournez! Le ciel en velours
D’astres en or se vêt lentement.
L’église tinte un glas tristement.
Tournez au son joyeux des tambours!
“The Angel” from the Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner
In the early days of childhood
I often hear angels say that,
The bliss of heaven
Swap with the earth sun,
That where an anxious heart is troubled
Pines hidden from the world,
That where still it will bleed to death,
And pass away in floods of tears,
That where his prayer is fervent
Only begs for redemption,
As the angel floats down,
And lifts it gently into the sky.
Yes, an angel came down to me too,
And on shining plumage
He leads, far from any pain,
My spirit now heavenward!
“Restless love” by Franz Schubert
The snow, the rain,
Against the wind,
In the steam of the fissures,
Through fog scents,
Always closed! Always closed!
Without rest and quiet!
Rather through suffering
I wanted to beat myself,
When so many joys
To endure life.
All the tilting
From heart to heart,
Oh, how so peculiar
Make it hurt!
How should I flee?
Head for the woods?
All in vain!
Crown of life,
Happiness without rest,
Love, you are!
Lauretta’s aria “O mio babbino caro” by Giacomo Antonio Puccini
O mio babbino caro,
mi piace è bello, bello;
vo’andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l’anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l’amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà , pietà !
Babbo, pietà , pietà !