SONGS FOR VOICE AND PIANO
OBLIVION (Lethe)
Poem by Lorentzos Mavilis
1912 / 1936
Publication:
Gaetanos, Athens 1936. [Out of print]
“Oblivion” is the second part of the Quintet with song, for piano, string quartet and voice. It can be played separately as a song for voice and piano. If so it starts form the 5th meter.
* For the Quintet with song, see under the category Chamber music.
Lethe (Lethe, oblivion), one of the best-loved sonnets by “sonneteer” Lorentzos Mavilis (1860 – 1912) who left many poems written in a perfectly polished language and form.
[Note by Maria Voelker-Kamarinea]
Lorentzos Mavilis in Wikipedia [Link]
LETHE
Fortunate are the dead who forget
the bitterness of life. When the sun sets
and dusk follows, do not weep for them,
no matter how deep your sorrow may be!
At such an hour the souls are thirsty and go
to οblivion's crystal-cold spring;
but the water will turn muddy,
if a tear is shed for them by the beloved.
And if they drink turbid water, they recall,
passing through fields of asphodels,
past sorrows that sleep within them.
If you cannot but weep, at sunset,
your eyes should lament for the living
who seek to forget, but cannot do so.
Translation by P. Karagiorgos. Source [Link]
AUDIO
Manolis Kalomiris “Oblivion” [Link]
from the Quintet with Song (1912/1936) on a poem by Lorentzos Mavilis.
Markella Hatziano, mezzo soprano
Aris Garoufalis, piano
Tatsis Apostolidis, Ersi Kagelari, violin
Yannis Vatikiotis, viola, Telis Katsikakis, cello
Recorded in Athens, Greece, January 10, 1987
