Words and music: Jan Harmon (1940–1993).
Parts: 4
Range: 17 half-steps
Difficulty: Harder to learn.
Lyrics on Jan Harmon’s website.
You can download sheet music for “Clear Horizon” (PDF) for free from Jan Harmon’s website.
Recorded by Libana: “Clear Horizon,” on Fire Within.
Words and music: John Krumm.
Parts: 2
Range: 14 half-steps
Difficulty: Medium.
You can download sheet music for “Brasstown Goodnight” (PDF) for free from John Krumm’s website.
Recorded by John Krumm: “Brasstown Goodnight,” on The Rounds of John Krumm. You can also listen to that track from the album for free on YouTube.
Recorded by The Rounds Galore and More Singers: “Brasstown Goodnight Song,” on Rounds Galore … and More, Volume 2.
Words: Victor Hugo, loosely.
Music: Arthur Frackenpohl.
Parts: 2
Range: 12 half-steps
Difficulty: Medium.
Recorded by Libana: “Be Like a Bird,” on Fire Within.
Apparently the original Victor Hugo verse was as follows, according to James Wood’s 1899 Dictionary of Quotations:
Soyez comme l’oiseau, posé pour un instant
Sur des rameaux trop frêles,
Qui sent ployer la branche et qui chante pourtant,
Sachant qu’il a des ailes
Which was translated as:
Be as the bird perched for an instant on the too frail branch which she feels bending beneath, but sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.
I don’t know who wrote the English translation used in this song.
The Hugo verse was apparently only one part of a much longer poem, titled “Dans l’église de ***,” published in an 1835 book of Hugo’s verse titled Les Chants du crépuscule.
Words: Psalm 137.
Music: Don McLean, probably based on a canon by Philip Hayes (1737–1797).
Parts: 3
Range: 15 half-steps
Difficulty: Medium.
Recorded by Don McLean: “Babylon,” on American Pie.
Recorded by The Rounds Galore and More Singers: “By the Waters of Babylon,” on Rounds Galore … and More, Volume 3.
Philip Hayes canon recorded by Streetsinger John et al: “By the Waters of Babylon.”
Words: Marytha Paffrath, or Laura Derr.
Music: Unknown, possibly 18th century.
Parts: 8
Range: 12 half-steps
Difficulty: Medium.
Recorded by Libana: “Autumn Time,” on A Circle Is Cast.
Recorded (with different lyrics) by The Rounds Galore and More Singers: “Autumn Tide,” on Rounds Galore … and More, Volume 3.
Words and music: John Krumm.
Copyright © John Krumm. Recorded and published by permission of the author.
Parts: 4
Range: 17 half-steps
Difficulty: Medium.
A dream is spoken, circle unbroken;
A new way joins with old, safe in the valley’s fold;
And ’neath the rising moon, they dance to fiddler’s tune.
Our lifebeat sounds through the mountains.
Ah, Comme C’est Chose Belle
Words and music: Probably Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621).
Parts: 5
Range: 17 half-steps
Language: French.
Difficulty: Harder to learn.
Lyrics
English translation (via Google Translate, loosely):
Ah, how beautiful is it to praise you, Lord, and a very high honor. Sing a faithful heart, sing.
Recordings elsewhere
Recorded by Libana: “Ah, Comme C’est Chose Belle,” on A Circle Is Cast.