26 Walisische Lieder: No. 17 “The Dairy House”, WoO 155/17 (1810-15)

Catalogue title: 26 Welsh Songs, WoO 155.

Scoring: 1-2 voice(s), violin, cello, piano (or harp).

Composed: 1810-15.

Individual item 17 from the corresponding collection, not the complete set....Read more

Catalogue title: 26 Welsh Songs, WoO 155.

Scoring: 1-2 voice(s), violin, cello, piano (or harp).

Composed: 1810-15.

Individual item 17 from the corresponding collection, not the complete set.

Item in the set: The Dairy‑House. Allegretto piu tosto vivace (F major).

Sung text (original language):
A spreading hawthorn shades the seat
where I have fix’d my cool retreat;
and when the spring, with sunny
show’rs,
expands the leaves, and paints the
flow’rs,
a thousands shrubs around it bloom,
and fill the air with wild perfume;
the light winds through the branches
sigh,
and limpid rills run tinkling by.
There, by the twilight dimly seen,
The fairies dance upon the green,
And as they glide in airy ring,
The beetle plies his drowsy wing;
And watching’ till the day retires,
The glow worm lights her elfin fires;
While Mab, who guards my milky
store,
Her cream bowl finds before the door.
The grateful Fay! she is so kind
No caterpilar there you find,
No creeping thing, nor wasp, nor fly
The lattic’d windows dare come nigh;
No long legg’d Spinner nightly weaves
Her flimsy web beneath the eaves;
But clean and neat, as by a charm,
The fairies keep my dairy farm.

Anne Hunter

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