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When you in sickness lie, No more the field is green, nor blue the sky ; No more invisible and lovely things The forest haunt with songs and rustling wings ; Back from my stricken sense the world recedes, And beauty's garden is a patch of weeds. Then can I [catch]1 in music's blithest tone Nought but the closing cadence of a moan; Then can I joy no more in sound unheard Save in the silence of the written word; The melodies that once could charm my ear Forbode some final dissonance of fear. Earth has no health, when health from you is fled; No angel stands between the quick and death; The awful unity of life and death Is sacramental in your labouring breath; And as I watch you I can hear Him call Who is the king of Nothing or of All. But ah! your nature surely cannot owe To that grim tyrant such an overthrow; You seem a creature of an alien strain From force and fate, and unallied to pain; Could you but meet their Master, little while Would lapse ere you had won him to a smile.
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Albéniz: "hear"
Authorship:
- by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (1852 - 1923), "In sickness and in health", appears in Musa Verticordia, first published 1904 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909), "In sickness and health", 1908, published 1909 [medium voice and piano], from Four songs, no. 1, also set in French (Français) [ sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi (1877 - 1944) SPA ; composed by Isaac Albéniz.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "Pour le meilleur et pour le pire", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfredo García) , "En la salud y en la enfermedad", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Alfredo García
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-06
Line count: 24
Word count: 192
Cuando yaces enferma, el campo deja de ser verde, y el cielo, azul; ya no hay cosas invisibles y encantadoras que embrujen el bosque con canciones y alas susurrantes, el mundo se aparta de mi juicio afligido y el bello jardín es un campo de maleza. Entonces ya no oigo, en la música más alegre, nada sino la cadencia final de un lamento; dejo de gozar entonces con la falta de sonidos salvo en el silencio de la palabra escrita; las melodías que antes cautivaban mi oído presagian una disonancia final de miedo. La tierra no está sana cuando tú no lo estás; no hay ángel que se interponga entre los vivos y la muerte; la horrible unidad de vida y muerte es sacramental en tu laborioso aliento; y, mientras te observo, puedo oír cómo te llama Él, que es el rey de todo o de nada. Pero, ah, tu naturaleza no puede, sin duda, deber tal derrocamiento al lúgubre tirano; pareces una criatura de una raza extraña, de fuerza y destino, y ajena al dolor; si encontraras a su dueño, en poco tiempo obtendrías de él una sonrisa'.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2008 by Alfredo García, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Alfredo García.  Contact: alfredogarcia (AT) alfredogarcia (DOT) com
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Based on:
- a text in English by Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer (1852 - 1923), "In sickness and in health", appears in Musa Verticordia, first published 1904
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-06
Line count: 24
Word count: 189