The Pearl Divers (John Liptrot Hatton)

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• (Posted 2023-10-25)  CPDL #76661:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-10-25).   Score information: Letter, 16 pages, 676 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

• (Posted 2019-04-19)  CPDL #54001:         

Editor: James Gibb (submitted 2019-04-19).   Score information: A4, 13 pages, 170 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The Pearl Divers
Composer: John Liptrot Hatton
Lyricist: Camilla Dufour Crosland

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: Keyboard

First published: 1869 in Novello Part-Song Book (2nd Series), Vol. 1, no. 61
Description: Six Choral Songs (1864), No.6

Original text and translations

English text

1  Row, boatmen, row, the dawn is nigh,
And we have wealth to win;
Before the sun has climbed the sky,
Our work we must begin.
We have to wake the slumb’ring deep,
And snatch the pearls that idly sleep,
For they were meant to glad the sight,
Not rest as if in endless night!
Such wealth is more than bauble toy,
From darkness we deliver,
"A thing of beauty is a joy,"
The poet saith, "for ever!"

R:  Row, boatmen, row, the dawn is nigh,
And we have wealth to win;
Before the sun has climbed the sky,
Our work we must begin.
Row, boatmen, row.

2  Just placed where man by daring deed
May win them for his own,
We divers gain a nobler meed
Than gold has ever shewn;
And when the haughty dark-browed Queen
Destroyed the pearl with cunning keen,
She had no cup of Lethe's wave,
To merge the mem'ry of the brave.
Her pearl once seen, was more than toy,
Her hand might melt or shiver
"A thing of beauty is a joy,"
The poet saith, "for ever!"
Row, boatmen, row, the dawn is nigh,
And we have wealth to win;
Before the sun has climbed the sky,
Our work we must begin.
R: 

3  We dive that beauty's night-like hair
May have its lunar shine;
We dive that monarch's crowns may share
The loveliness divine.
And oh, we give the poet store
of thoughts and fancies, pearl-taught lore!
So boatmen, row, the dawn is nigh,
We dive before the sun is high,
before the sun is high.
That wealth more rich than bauble toy,
From darkness we deliver,
"A thing of beauty is a joy,"
The poet saith, "for ever!"
R: