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Text
Recitative 'My lost and dazzled eyes'
English source:
Jean Racine trans. Robert Lowell
My lost and dazzled eyes saw only night,
capricious burnings flickered through my bleak
abandoned flesh. I could not breathe or speak.
I faced my flaming executioner,
Aphrodite, my mother’s murderer!
I tried to calm her wrath by flowers and praise,
I built her a temple, fretted months and days
on decoration.
Alas, my hungry open mouth,
thirsting with adoration, tasted drouth –
Venus resigned her altar to my new lord.
capricious burnings flickered through my bleak
abandoned flesh. I could not breathe or speak.
I faced my flaming executioner,
Aphrodite, my mother’s murderer!
I tried to calm her wrath by flowers and praise,
I built her a temple, fretted months and days
on decoration.
Alas, my hungry open mouth,
thirsting with adoration, tasted drouth –
Venus resigned her altar to my new lord.
Composer
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music,…
