by George Peele (1556? - 1596)
Fair and fair
Language: English
Fair and fair, and twice so fair, As fair as any may be; The fairest shepherd on our green, A love for any lady. Fair and fair, and twice so fair, As fair as any may be; Thy love is fair for thee alone, And for no other lady. My love is fair, my love is gay, As fresh as bin the flowers in May, And of my love my roundelay, My merry, merry, merry roundelay. Concludes with Cupid's curse: "They that do change old love for new Pray gods they change for worse!" My love can pipe, my love can sing, My love can many a pretty thing, And of his lovely praises ring My merry, merry, merry roundelays Amen to Cupid's curse: "They that do change old love for new Pray gods they change for worse!"
Authorship:
- by George Peele (1556? - 1596) [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Fair and fair", op. 44 no. 10 (1949) [soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, mixed chorus, boys' chorus, and orchestra], from Spring Symphony, no. 10. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
This text was added to the website: 2004-07-04
Line count: 22
Word count: 138