The Heart

"The Heart" is the ninth song song of Ernst Bacon's song cycle Quiet Airs. The song sets the poetry of Emily Dickinson. The song is published in a lower key in the Ernst Bacon collection simply titled Songs From Emily Dickinson for Medium/High Voice.

Date: 1952Composer: Ernst BaconText: Emily DickinsonSong Collection: Quiet Airs

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Text

The Heart asks Pleasure — first — (poem 536)
by Emily Dickinson

The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain ;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering ;

And then, to go to sleep ;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.

Sheet Music

Quiet Airs

Composer(s): Ernst Bacon

Song(s): 1. Twilight
2. Gentle Greeting
3. The Divine Ship
4. Of Love
5. Eden
6. The Little Stone
7. Fond Affection
8. Stars
9. The Heart
10. Song of Snow-White Heads
11. The Lamb
12. To Musique, To Becalme His Fever

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Songs from Emily Dickinson

Composer(s): Ernst Bacon

Song(s): As If the Sea Should Part
Let down the bars
O friend
The grass so little has to do
A threadless way
The postponeless Creature
I'm Nobody
My river runs to thee
How still the bells
The sun went down
The grass so little has to do
Savior
She went as quiet as the dew
Wild nights

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