by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Language: English
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 116 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Sonnet 116", 1983 [ medium-high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Herbert Bielawa (b. 1930), "For a wedding", 1975 [ tenor or soprano and pipe organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudolf Bruči , no title, 1987 [ voice and piano ], from Love and Time [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet CXVI - Let me not to the marriage", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 22 (1944-5) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Deryck Cooke , "Sonnet CXVI", 1944-5, from Ten Shakespeare Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Coulthard (1908 - 2000), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments", 1947, first performed 1970, from Three Shakespeare Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "Sonnet 116" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "Sonnet 116", 1991 [ voice and piano ], from Sonnets and Soliloquies, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Michael Huebner and by Richard D. Lake , "The marriage of true minds", 1969 [ three-part chorus, trio, harpsichord, guitar ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christopher James , "Shakespeare's Sonnet CXVI: Let me not to the marriage...", 1977 [ soprano and organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Björn Johansson , no title [ tenor and string quartet ], from ...notes of Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leslie Kondorossy (1915 - 1989), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", op. 138 no. ?, from Five Shakespeare Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rex Le Lacheur , "Love is not love", published 1974 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Three Shakespearian Trios [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Sonnet 116", 1960-80 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryony Phillips , "Marriage of true minds", 1982, first performed 1983 [ soprano and violin ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Solomon Pimsleur (1900 - 1962), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", op. 100 no. ? [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Shakespearean sonnet cycle [sung text not yet checked]
- by David A. Roth , "Love's constancy", 1966 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johan Selnes , "Sonnett" [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXVI", 1864 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Max Sofsky , "Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 - Let me not...", 1973 [ high voice unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gloria Swisher , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Godfrey Winham , no title, 1957-60, published 1978, first performed 1961 [ soprano and piano ], from To prove my love, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Steffen Wolf (b. 1971), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", 2008 [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lee Zarchen , "Shakespeare sonnet: no. 116", 1983 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Jan Vladislav ; composed by Jan Hanuš.
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , "Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern" ; composed by Anton Beer-Walbrunn.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Alfons Wolpert (1917 - 1978) ; composed by Franz Alfons Wolpert.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 116, first published 1857
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Sonett CXVI", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Mai non avvenga che io ponga impedimento", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 109
Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern, Die wahrhaft gleichgestimmt. Lieb' ist nicht Liebe, Die Trennung oder Wechsel könnte mindern, Die nicht unwandelbar im Wandel bliebe. O nein! Sie ist ein ewig festes Ziel, Das unerschüttert bleibt in Sturm und Wogen, Ein Stern für jeder irren Barke Kiel, - Kein Höhenmaß hat seinen Werth erwogen. Lieb' ist kein Narr der Zeit, ob Rosenmunde Und Wangen auch verblühn im Lauf der Zeit - Sie aber wechselt nicht mit Tag und Stunde, Ihr Ziel ist endlos, wie die Ewigkeit. Wenn dies bei mir als Irrthum sich ergiebt, So schrieb ich nie, hat nie ein Mann geliebt.
Text Authorship:
- by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892), "Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 116
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Anton Beer-Walbrunn (1864 - 1929), "Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern", op. 34, Heft 1 no. 6, published 1907, first performed 1906 [ medium voice and piano ], from Ein Cyklus lyrisch-dramatischer Gesänge nach Shakespeares Sonetten, Heft I, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-04
Line count: 14
Word count: 103