by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)
I pant for the music which is divine
Language: English
I pant for the music which is divine, My heart in its thirst is a dying flower; Pour forth the sound like enchanted wine, Loosen the notes in a silver shower; Like a herbless plain for the gentle rain, I gasp, I faint, till they wake again. Let me drink of the spirit of that sweet sound, More, O more! I am thirsting yet, It loosens the serpent which care has bound Upon my heart, to stifle it: The dissolving strain, through every vein, Passes into my heart and brain. As the scent of a violet withered up, Which grew by the brink of a silver lake, When the hot noon has drained its dewy cup, And mist there was none its thirst to slake— And the violet lay dead while the odour flew On the wings of the wind o'er the waters blue— As one who drinks from a charmed cup Of foaming, and sparkling, and murmuring wine, Whom, a mighty Enchantress filling up, Invites to love with her kiss divine…
M. Tippett sets stanzas 1-2
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Authorship:
- by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ellen Dickson (1819 - 1878), as Dolores, "I pant for the music which is divine", published 1861 [ voice and piano ], London [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Music", 1947, published 1948 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998), "Music", first performed 1960, stanzas 1-2, note: written for the jubilee of the East Sussex and West Kent Choral Festival.  [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Hudba", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 22
Word count: 172