Two Lovers and Oh No, We Never

by

William Copper

The two women's chorus songs from New Lovelife Dances. Two Lovers is two part, SA, with occasional division into four parts. Oh No, We Never Mention Him/Her is three part (SSA) with no division and optional solo sections. The original early 19th century text uses "Him" but it may be programmed and sung with either gender.

By the composer of Lovelife Dances

 
1.  Two lovers by a moss-grown spring:        4.  Two parents by the evening fire:
   They leaned soft cheeks together there,       The red light fell about their knees
   Mingled the dark and sunny hair,              On heads that rose by slow degrees
And heard the wooing thrushes sing.           Like buds upon the lily spire.
      O budding time!                                O patient life!
      O love's best prime!                           O tender strife!

2.  Two wedded from the portal stept:         5.  The two still sat together there,
   The bells made happy carollings,              The red light shone about their knees;
   The air was soft as fanning wings,            But all the heads by slow degrees 
White petals on the pathway slept.            Had gone and left that lonely pair.
      O pure-eyed bride!                             O voyage fast!
      O tender pride!                                O vanished past!

3.  Two faces o'er a cradle bent:             6.  The red light shone upon the floor
   Two hands above the head were locked;         And made the space between them wide;
   These pressed each other while they rocked,   They drew their chairs up side by side,
Those watched a life that love had sent.      Their pale cheeks joined, and said, "Once more!"
      O solemn hour!                                 O memories!
      O hidden power!                                O past that is!
      

Oh, no!  We never mention him/her, his/her name is never heard;
My lips are now forbid to speak that once familiar word 
From sport to sport they hurry me, to banish my regret. 
And when they win a smile from me, they think that I forget.

They bid me seek in change of scene the charms that others see,
But were I in a foreign land, they'd find no change in me.
'Tis true that I behold no more the valley where we met,
I do not see the hawthorn tree, but how could I forget? 

For oh! there are so many things recall the past to me,
The breeze upon the sunny hills, the billows of the sea,
The rosy tint that decks the sky before the sun is set;
Ay every leaf I look upon forbids me to forget.

They tell me s/he is happy now, the gayest of the gay;
They hint that s/he forgets me too, -- but I heed not what they say
perhaps like me s/he struggles with each feeling of regret:
But if s/he loves as I have loved, s/he never can forget.

Editions Available

• HGI #0455 Two Lovers and Oh No, We Never Women's Chorus, Piano Octavo $2.50
• HGI #0351 Lovelife Dances Vocal Score $8.95
• HGI #0352 Lovelife Dances Conductor Score $14.95
• HGI #0420 New Lovelife Dances Conductor Score $15.95
• HGI #0450 New Lovelife Dances Vocal Score $9.95

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