The Ohio State University

For translations of opera texts, a title search in the OSU Library Catalog -- using title.libretto as your search term -- will often turn up what you need (for example, carmen.libretto or walkure.libretto. Printed materials may help you too: look at the books between ML 48 and ML 54.6. in our Reference Room. Verdi's and Puccini's complete texts are there, together with those of other composers of opera and song. Ask a staff member for assistance if you cannot find what you are looking for.

Collections of texts by language

French

• LeVan, Timothy. Masters of the French Art Song: Translations of the Complete Songs of Chausson, Debussy, Duparc, Faure & Ravel. 1991. Ref. ML54.6 M33 1991

German

• Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich. The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder: The Original Texts of Over 750 Songs . . . with English Translations. 1976. Perm Reserve PT1160 E6 F5 1976
• Miller, Philip Lieson. German Lieder. 1990. Stacks ML54.6 G275 1990
• Paquin, Marie-Therese. Dix cycles de lieder = Ten cycles of lieder : Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert, Schumann; traduction mot a mot accent tonique. 1977. Ref. ML54.6 D58
• Phillips, Lois. Lieder line by line, and word for word. 1979. Ref. ML54.6 P55 L5 Includes songs by Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, Wagner, and Wolf.
• Prawer, S.S. The Penguin Book of Lieder. 1964. Ref. ML54.6.P7 P4

Italian

• LeVan, Timothy. Masters of the Italian Art Song: Word-by- Word and Poetic Translations of the Complete Songs for Voice and Piano. 1990. Stacks ML54.6 M34 1990. Includes: Bellini, Donaudy, Donizetti, Puccini, Rossini, Tosti, Verdi.
• Richardson, Dorothy, & Tina Ruta. Arie antiche. 1990. Stacks ML54.6 A75

Russian

• Piatak, Jean, & Regina Avrashov. Russian Songs & Arias: Phonetic Readings, Word-by-Word Translations, and a Concise Guide to Russian Diction. 1991. Stacks ML54.6 P57 R8 1991

Spanish

• Sobrer, Josep Miquel, & Edmon Colomer. The Singer's Anthology of 20th Century Spanish Songs. 1987. Stacks PQ6187 S55 1987

Various

• Coffin, Berton, et al. Word-by-word translations of songs and arias. 1966-72. Ref. ML54.6 W65 vols. 1 & 2
  • Vol. 1 covers selected German and French texts, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Bizet, Brahms, Charpentier, Chausson, Debussy, Delibes, Duparc, Faure, Franck, Gounod, Grieg, Handel, Liszt, Mahler, Massenet, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss, Wagner, Wolf, and many others.
  • Vol. 2 includes Italian texts used by Bach, Beethoven, Bellini, Caccini, Cherubini, Donizetti, Gluck, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Mozart, Pergolesi, Puccini, Rossini, Scarlatti, Schubert, Verdi, Vivaldi, and many others.
• Coffin, Berton, et al. Phonetic readings of songs and arias. 2nd ed. rev. 1982 Perm. Reserve MT883 P5 1982. Includes texts for over 400 songs in Italian, German, and French, with International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions.
• Miller, Philip L. The Ring of Words: An Anthology of Song Texts. 1963. Ref. ML54.6 M5 R5 Includes German, French, Italian, Russian, Scandinavian, and Spanish texts used by over 200 composers.

Texts of the works of various composers

J. S. Bach

• Ambrose, Z. Philip. Texte zu den Kirchenkantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach = The Texts to Johann Sebastian Bach's Church Cantatas. 1984. Graduate Reading Room ML54 .B23 1984
• Drinker, Henry S. The Bach chorale texts in English translation, with annotations showing the use of the melodies elsewhere by Bach in his vocal and organ works, and a musical index to the melodies. 1941. Grad. Reading Room and Stacks, ML49 .B33 D74
• Unger, Melvin P. Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts 1996. Reference Room, ML54 .B15 C29 1996

Brahms

• Magner, Candace A. Phonetic readings of Brahms Lieder 1987. Stacks MT883 M23 1987

Debussy

• Cobb, Margaret G. & Richard Miller. The Poetic Debussy: A Collection of His Song Texts and Selected Letters. 2nd ed. 1982. Stacks ML54.6 D42 P6
• Rohinsky, Marie-Claire. The Singer's Debussy. 1987. Stacks ML54.6 D42 R62 1987

Pfitzner

• Mercier, Richard. The Songs of Hans Pfitzner. 1998. Stacks ML410 P44 M47 1998

Rachmaninoff

• Challis, Natalia. The singer's Rachmaninoff. 1989. Includes original Russian texts, with pronunciations in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and English translations. Stacks ML54.6 R18 S52 1989

Schubert

• Drinker, Henry S. Texts of the solo songs of Franz Schubert in English translation 1951. Stacks ML54.6 S31 D7 (2 vols.)
• Garran, Robert Randoph. Schubert and Schumann: Songs and Translations. 1946. Ref. ML48 S38 1971
• Glass, Beaumont. Schubert's complete song texts : with international phonetic alphabet transcriptions, word for word translations and commentary. 1996. Perm Reserve. ML54.6.S39 G5 1996
• Reed, John. The Schubert Song Companion. 1985. Ref. ML134 S38 R4 1985
• Wigmore, Richard. Schubert: The Complete Song Texts. Texts of the Lieder and Italian Songs with English Translations. 1988. Ref. ML54.6 S38 W53 1988 and Stacks ML54.6 S3 W53 1988B

Schumann

• Garran, Robert Randoph. Schubert and Schumann: Songs and Translations. 1946. Ref. ML48 S38 1971
• Drinker, Henry S. Texts of the Vocal Works of Robert Schumann in English Translation. 1947. Stacks ML49 S31 D7
• Reinhard, Thilo. The Singer's Schumann. 1989. Stacks ML54.6 S4 S65 1989

Schütz

• Drinker, Henry S. English Texts to the Vocal Works of Heinrich Schutz. 1952. Stacks ML49 S251 D7

Wolf

• Drinker, Henry S. Texts of the solo songs of Hugo Wolf in English translation 1949. Stacks ML54.6 W61 D7