by William Smyth (1765 - 1849)
By the side of the Shannon
Language: English
By the side of the Shannon was laid a young Lover, "I hate this dull river", he fretfully cried; "Yon tempest is coming, this willow my cover, How sultry the air, not a zephyr", he sigh'd. "Go, bee! -- get along -- why so idly remaining, For here are no roses, thou troublesome thing! Peace nightingale! Peace to that ditty complaining Oh, can it be thus that these nightingales sing?" But now a light form, with a smile archly playing. All beaming in beauty, before him appear'd; "O Ellen!" He cried, "why thus strangely delaying, My dearest, my Ellen, what have I not fear'd." And then so majestic the Shannon came flowing, That bee flew unchided the blossoms among, The sky was serene, and the zephyrs soft blowing, And oh! How enchanting the nightingale's song!
Authorship:
- by William Smyth (1765 - 1849) [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 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "By the side of the Shannon", WoO 157 no. 8 (1814-5), from 12 songs of various nationalities, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Georg Pertz) , "Am Ufer des Shannon"
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2005-12-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 133