Love is a sweet light - (2018)   

Emily Ezust

for mezzo soprano and piano


 

Love is a sweet light.
As the world pursues the sun
And every bright star
In the wide blue distance,
So does the heart pursue the bliss of love;
For it is a sweet light.

Look, how high in silent ceremony
Over there, bright stars glint:
They fly from the world's dark,
Gloom-filled, murky haze.
Woe is me! How cheerless
I feel deep in my mind,
Which once blossomed in joy
And is now isolated, without love.

Love is a sweet light.
As the world pursues the sun
And every bright star
In the wide blue distance,
So does the heart pursue the bliss of love:
Love is a sweet light.

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2017 by Emily Ezust

4 pages, circa 3' 30"


Emily Ezust

 

 A bright spot in the world of art songs is Emily Ezust's resource, the LiederNet Archive  .

 

With its many volunteers and nearing 150 thousand texts, many in multiple translations, it is an unparalleled tool for many. Many of my works' texts are detailed there, and over the years I have come to enjoy poking around the site. Emily is not only founder of this consortium of art song enthusiasts, but a translator of well over a thousand texts as well. I came across her translation of a text by Matthäus Kasimir von Collin (1779 - 1824) which is found  in his five-act play, Der Tod Friedrich des Streitbaren. The text and several others were set to music by Franz Schubert, as a duet for male and female voices as a dialogue between them.

 

As to notions of translations, from rhymed and singable to free verse, literal and interpretive, it has occurred to me that on occasion a translation becomes a reinterpretation, something standing somewhat alone. Emily's text struck me this way, and my reading in English was less related to Schubert's Licht und Liebe, D. 351, as one considers the rhythmic differences in stress and syllable. As an English text for one performer, the center section can be seen as the individual's reality, with the outside verse an idealization of that love which "is a sweet light." For so have we all sought love -- that sweet light -- in life, a common theme throughout the history of man.

 

 

The parallel fourths and fifths in the accompaniment as at measure 6 cause a friction, somewhat in the manner that fauxbordun which was used in parallel motion to add harmonic structure across early monody. The easy change of meter reflects scansion and intended line reading, as is the province of a composer considering words to be set in melody.

 

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this art song score.

 

Love is a sweet light