Cleopatra Noblest of men, woo't die? Hast thou no care of me? [shall I abide In this dull world, which in thy absence is No better than a sty?]1 O see, my women, (Mark Antony dies) The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord! O wither'd is the garland of the war, The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls Are level now with men; the odds is gone, And there is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting moon. (Faints)
Two Choruses from "Anthony and Cleopatra"
Song Cycle by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981)
1. On the death of Antony [sung text checked 1 time]
Note: this is a multi-text setting
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, Scene 15 and Act V, Scene 2, first published 1607
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La mort d'Antoine", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
See also Thomas Pasatieri's setting {link:1116714}Antony and Cleopatra.
1 omitted by Barber.Researcher for this page: Ivan Nunes
CLEOPATRA I [dream'd]1 there was an Emperor Antony: O, such another sleep, that I might see But such another man! DOLABELLA If it might please ye,-- CLEOPATRA [His face was as the heavens; and therein stuck A sun and moon, which kept their course, and lighted The little O, the earth.]2 DOLABELLA Most sovereign creature,-- CLEOPATRA His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm Crested the world: [his voice was propertied As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas That grew the more by reaping:]2 his delights Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above The element they lived in: [in his livery Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were As plates dropp'd from his pocket.]2 DOLABELLA Cleopatra! CLEOPATRA Think you there was, or might be, such a man As this I dream'd of? DOLABELLA Gentle madam, no. CLEOPATRA You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. But, if there be, or ever were, one such, It's past the size of dreaming: [nature wants stuff To vie strange forms with fancy; yet, to imagine And Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy, Condemning shadows quite.]2
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Antony and Cleopatra, Scene V, Act 2
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
Note: Mollicone's setting omits all of Dolabella's lines; Barber's includes only "Gentle madam, no". Mollicone's setting ends "As plates dropp'd from his pocket"
1 Barber: "dream't"2 omitted by Barber.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. On the death of Cleopatra  [sung text checked 1 time]
Take up her bed, She looks like sleep, As she would catch another Antony In her strong toil of grace. Take up her bed, She looks like sleep, And bear her women from the monument. She shall be buried by her Antony. No grave on earth shall clasp in it A pair so famous. Our army shall In solemn show attend this funeral, And then to Rome.
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, Scene 2, first published 1607
Go to the single-text view
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La mort de Cléopâtre", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission