 | Sounds and Sweet Airs |  |
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Schumann's “Forest Scenes.”
“Forests and enchantments drear
Where more is meant than meets the ear.”
Where more is meant than meets the ear.”
I. The Hunter's Quest.
Enter the haunted Forest! Here Music weaves
The web of life. Among the trembling leaves
A sense of things unseen, a spectral fear
Lurks for the venturous Hunter straying here,
Till the fantastic form of every tree
Looms like a threatening spectre, ominously.
The web of life. Among the trembling leaves
A sense of things unseen, a spectral fear
Lurks for the venturous Hunter straying here,
Till the fantastic form of every tree
Looms like a threatening spectre, ominously.
Enter the lonely Forest! Music here
Lures with her hovering spells, till that grey fear
Grows a familiar presence, and enthralls
The Wanderer, like the ecstatic dread which falls
On one who, come to a witch's haunt by night,
Awaits the hour of some dark perilous rite.
Lures with her hovering spells, till that grey fear
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The Wanderer, like the ecstatic dread which falls
On one who, come to a witch's haunt by night,
Awaits the hour of some dark perilous rite.
Enter the gloomy Forest! Music here
Makes of each glimmering pool a magic mere
In an enchanter's land, where night and day
Mingle their powers, and every woodland way,
Whispering of mystery, tempts the Seeker's feet
To chase the thing he fears, yet longs, to meet.
Makes of each glimmering pool a magic mere
In an enchanter's land, where night and day
Mingle their powers, and every woodland way,
Whispering of mystery, tempts the Seeker's feet
To chase the thing he fears, yet longs, to meet.
Enter the dolorous Forest! Music here
With shuddering voice chants in the Venturer's ear
Of passion crowned with horror.—A dreary strain
Flits like a spectre through this glade of pain,
The ghastly discords of whose lingering moan
Crisp with a tragic awe life's undertone.
With shuddering voice chants in the Venturer's ear
Of passion crowned with horror.—A dreary strain
Flits like a spectre through this glade of pain,
The ghastly discords of whose lingering moan
Crisp with a tragic awe life's undertone.
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