1941
Nocturne (op. 13, no. 4)
Composed by 
Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber Text by 
Frederic Prokosch
Frederic Prokosch "Nocturne" sets poetry from Prokosch's volume The Carnival of 1938. Barber also orchestrated the song. The song comes from the set Four Songs for Voice and Piano, op. 13.
Listen
Nocturne
Antona Yost, mezzo-soprano; Sarah Thune, piano3:59
Text
Nocturne
by Frederic Prokosch
Close my darling both your eyes,
Let your arms lie still at last.
Calm the lake of falsehood lies
And the wind of lust has passed,
Waves across these hopeless sands
Fill my heart and end my day,
Underneath your moving hands
All my aching flows away.
Even the human pyramids
Blaze with such a longing now:
Close, my love, your trembling lids,
Let the midnight heal your brow,
Northward flames Orion’s horn,
Westward th’ Egyptian light.
None to watch us, none to warn
But the blind eternal night.
Sheet Music
Samuel Barber: Collected Songs
Samuel Barber
1. A Last Song (op. 41, no. 1)
2. My Lizard (Wish For a Young Love) (op. 41, no. 2)
3. In The Wilderness (op. 41, no. 3)
4. Solitary Hotel (op. 41, no. 4)
5. Despite and Still (op. 41, no. 5)
2. My Lizard (Wish For a Young Love) (op. 41, no. 2)
3. In The Wilderness (op. 41, no. 3)
4. Solitary Hotel (op. 41, no. 4)
5. Despite and Still (op. 41, no. 5)
