COMPOSER: Benjamin Britten
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Graham Johnson, piano
2007 BBC Proms, First Night (July 16, 2007)
*** TEXT: Thomas Randolph (1605-1635) ***
Quiet!
Sleep! or I will make
Erinnys whip thee with a snake,
And cruel Rhadamanthus take
Thy body to the boiling lake,
Where fire and brimstones never slake;
Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
And ev'ry joint about thee quake;
And therefor dare not yet to wake!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
Quiet!
Sleep! or thou shalt see
The horrid hags of Tartary,
Whose tresses ugly serpants be,
And Cerberus shall bark at thee,
And all the Furies that are three
The worst is called Tisiphone,
Shall lash thee to eternity;
And therefor sleep thou peacefully
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
@geoffwieting LOL. Alice Coote has quite a gift for portraying lunacy
beteltree 1 year ago
Oooh, the demented nurse--scary! Does this song make anyone think of Kathy Bates in "Misery"?
geoffwieting 1 year ago