This beautiful and haunting song was composed by Richard Hageman who was born and raised in the Netherlands but who later took on American citizenship. He was considered to be a child prodigy and was thought equal to a concert pianist at the age of 6. In his early years whilst studying in Amsterdam he began to accompany many of the singers at the Amsterdam Royal Opera Company where he eventually was appointed to the position of conductor in 1899 at the age of 18.
After moving to America he held positions at the Metropolitan Opera and Chicago Civic Opera and also became the conductor of the Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles symphony orchestras.
Along with his many Art song compositions he wrote several film scores including the one for “Stagecoach” directed by John Ford, the 1939 movie which Hageman shared an Academy Award for.
The song’s lyrics were taken from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore a Bengali poet and philosopher who Hageman used for the inspiration for this piece and two more of his songs “May Night” and “At The Well”
Do not go, my love, without asking my leave.
I have watched all night, and now my eyes are heavy with sleep;
I fear lest I lose you when I am sleeping.
Do not go, my love, without asking my leave.
I start up and stretch my hands to touch you.
I ask myself, “Is it a dream?”
Could I but entangle your feet with my heart,
And hold them fast to my breast!
Do not go, my love, without asking my leave.
Classically structured songs such as this one are considered Art songs and were usually composed for a single voice and accompanied by piano. They’re used extensively in recitals and for concert repertoire all over the world. These songs were not part of a staged work such as an opera but could sometimes be composed to be performed in a song cycle.
When I decided on the songs to record last summer for my album Canzoni D’Amore , accompanied by George Todica. I wanted to use a mixture of both art songs and operatic arias so that I could share with you my love for a broad range of classical music.
Though my heart is set on the opera stage I will always search out and perform those art songs that inspire or touch me in some way.
I do hope that you enjoy it.
P.S. I could not make up my mind if I should have used the black and white picture or the colour one in my post so in the end I chose the black and white one as it seemed to be in keeping with the other images. I used the colour one in the header so let me know what you think?,