AMERICAN ART SONG

Home
Composers

Songs

Books

        Recordings
        For Researchers
        Performances
        Links

Ernst Bacon

Ernst Bacon is one of America's greatest song-writers, and yet his works are little known. "His settings of texts by Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are considered by many to be among the finest examples of 20th-century American art song. . . His music favors clear melodic contours, vigorous contrapuntal energy and strong rhythms (New Groves Dictionary of Music Online, ed. L. Lacy, Accessed September 2002. Internet. Available from http://www.grovemusic.com)."

The Ernst Bacon Society maintains an extensive web site about the composer and his music. However, it is this Web site (American Art Song) that maintains and provides access to his full list of songs.

A Note about the Songs: Many of Bacon's songs have multiple titles. In the tables, I have listed each song only once, using what I have identified as its primary title. Other titles for the songs are listed in the columns Alternate Title 1 and Alternate Title 2.

Information in the tables covers:

Songs Sorted by Title
Songs Sorted by Poet
Folk Song Arrangements
Recordings
Reviews of Selected Recitals

Songs Sorted by Title


Title	Poet	Voice	Published Collection 1	Published Collection 2	Published Collection 3	Also Arranged for:	Recordings	Alternate Title 1	Alternate Title 2	Composition Date	Dedication
About Pins	Chinese
Ach Lieb, ich muss nun sheiden	Dahn									1920-23 ca.
Adam	Housman									1965-70 ca.	Buchner, Tom
After a Hundred Years	Dickinson	Low
After Blenheim	Southey		Fifty Songs							1960s	Matthes, Walter
Alabaster Wool	Dickinson		Tributaries	Fifty Songs	Songs from Emily Dickinson: Vol. I		Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon	Snowfall		1930s ca.	Luening, Ethel
Alone	Teasdale										Damon, Bertha
An den Monde	Goethe									1920 ca.
Ancient Carol	Anonymous		Fifty Songs	Six Songs	Tributaries			Ancient Christmas Carol		1940 ca.	Barnett, George and Anna, In memory of
And This of All My Hopes	Dickinson	High	Five Poems	Romantic American Art Songs		Orchestra	Love's Secret The Poetess Sings	Eden		1936 ca.
And Who Are You?	Whitman									1960s
Angels on the Sands	Dickinson		Songs from Emily Dickinson: Vol. II					Angels in the Early Morning		1965
Anthem to the United Nations	Emerson							Anthem for the United Nations		1929 - 30 (ca. 1950 Swift thesis)
As Well as Jesus	Dickinson		Fifty Songs				Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon	So Well That I Can Live Without		1935 ca.
At the Gate	Dickinson									1950s
August	Wynne									1932
Aus meinen grossen Schmerzen	Heine									1919
Banks of the Yellow Sea, The	Dickinson		Six Songs	Tributaries			Carolyn Heafner Sings American Songs	Yellow Sea, The		1940	Thomas, John Charles
Bat, The	Dickinson		Fifty Songs	Tributaries	Songs from Emily Dickinson: Vol. II		Fond Affection	Elate Philosopher		1970-74	Nixon, Marni
Beat! Beat! Drums!	Whitman	Baritone	Ten Songs							1926 ca.	Houston, George Fleming
Bei jedem Morgengrauen	Z - Not available									1920-22 ca.
Billy in the Darbies	Melville	Baritone								1940s, revised 1976	Parker, Will
Brady	Bacon	Low					Fond Affection			1949 ca.
Brief, Der	Heine									1921 May 20
Brighter Morning, A	Carus		Fifty Songs				Fond Affection			1947 ca.
Caliban	Shakespeare		Fifty Songs							1937-38	Lockwood, Normand
Calm Soul	Arnold		Fifty Songs							1930s	Pippin, Donald
Cape Cod	Santayana
Carol, A	Old English									1956
Cassandra's Song	Lengyel									1972 ca.
Childe Harold	Heine									1919 June 24
Child's Evening Hymn	Baring-Gould									1950 ca.
Christmas Eve	Tennyson		Fifty Songs							1970-74	Erskine, Dorothy
Christ's Sunday Morn	Old English		Fifty Songs							1960s	Nordoff, Paul
Clear Midnight, A	Whitman		Six Songs							1940 ca.	Patrick, John
Clover	Dickinson		Songs from Emily Dickinson: Vol. II							1950s
Commonplace, The	Whitman	Medium					Fond Affection			1940
Condor, The	Welch	Medium	Of a Feather
Cradle Song, A	Blake									1950s
Cricket, The	Wood									1960s
Crickets Sang, The	Dickinson
Darest Thou Now, O Soul	Whitman		Songs at Parting					Unknown Region		1930 ca.	Sullivan, Noël
Deborah	Franklin									1976
Deep Sea, The	Z - Not available
Der Du von dem Himmel bist	Goethe	Baritone	Ten Songs							1924-26 ca.	Beck, Helen
Destiny of the Flag	Hamilton										Roosevelt, Eleanor
Divine Ship, The	Whitman		Quiet Airs	Songs at Parting	Tributaries	Orchestra	Fond Affection	One Thought Ever at the Fore		1927 ca.	Lillie, Frances Crane
Dove, The	Welch	Medium	Of a Feather
Drop Fell on the Apple Tree, A	Dickinson	High	Songs from Emily Dickinson: Vol. I
Du bist wie eine Blume	Heine									1920s
Dusk	Teasdale		Tributaries								Moore, Douglas, in memory of
Eden	Dickinson		Fifty Songs	Quiet Airs	Tributaries		Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon Carolyn Heafner Sings American Songs	Come Slowly Eden		1940s	Elkus, Albert and Elizabeth
Epitaph	Millay	Soprano	Four Songs for Soprano							1940-46 ca.
Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries	Housman	baritone or alto								1947 (EB), 1960s (Swift)
Es war ein Fanler Schiffen	Goethe									1917 August
Eternal Goodness, The	Whittier									1950 ca.
Eternity	Dickinson	High	Fifty Songs	Songs from Emily Dickinson	Tributaries	Orchestra	Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon	As If the Sea Should Part		1931 ca.	Horgan, Paul
Fairy, A	Z - Not available
Farewell	Dickinson		Fifty Songs							1970 ca.
Farewell to a Name	Housman		Tributaries				Fond Affection	Name and a Number, A		1965 ca.	Baldwin, Dalton
Few Get Enough	Dickinson									1950s
Fire and Ice	Frost	Bass
First Day	Lillie		Ten Songs							1926-28 ca.	Lombard, Eugene
Flowers and Moonlight	Yang-ti		Fifty Songs							1950s	Wolverton, Palma
Fly, The	Greene									1950s
Fog	Sandburg									1931 January
Fond Affection	Anonymous		Quiet Airs				Fond Affection			1940s	Silva, Giulio and Evelina
For Alfons on his 90th Birthday	Bacon									1986 October 15
Foreign Laws	Housman									1960s
Forsaken Heart, The	Z - Not available
Free Will	Bierce									1979
Frühlingsgruss	Eichendorff									1917-20
Gebet	Lecher		Ten Songs							1926-28 ca.	Onegin, Sigrid
Gentle Greeting	Brontë		Quiet Airs							1940s	Tinayre, Yves
Grand is the Seen	Whitman		Songs at Parting	Fifty Songs	Tributaries	Orchestra	Fond Affection	Unseen Soul, The		1930 ca.	Frijsch, Povla and Langstaff, John
Grass So Little Has to Do, The	Dickinson	Soprano	Songs from Emily Dickinson	Six Songs	6 Songs (Transpositions into Higher Keys)	Orchestra	Songs of Charles Ives and Ernst Bacon	Grass, The	Simple Green	1931 ca.
Gray Morning	Wood									1950s
Harvest	Lengyel									1970-72 ca.
Heart, The	Dickinson		Quiet Airs	Songs from Emily Dickinson		Orchestra	Carolyn Heafner Sings American Songs The Poetess Sings	Heart asks Pleasure First, The		1920-29 (1931 ca. Swift thesis)	Luening, Ethel
How Still the Bells	Dickinson		Songs from Emily Dickinson				Fond Affection	Bells, The		1931 ca.
I Died for Beauty	Dickinson							Air		1990 ca.
I Dwell in Possibility	Dickinson	Soprano
Ich hab' dich geliebt	Z - Not available