by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930)
I heard a linnet courting
Language: English
I heard a linnet courting
His lady in the spring:
His mates were idly sporting,
Nor stayed to hear him sing
His song of love. --
I fear my speech distorting
His tender love.
The phrases of his pleading
Were full of young delight;
And she that gave him heeding
Interpreted aright
His gay, sweet notes, --
So sadly marred in the reading, --
His tender notes.
And when he ceased, the hearer
Awaited the refrain,
Till swiftly perching nearer
He sang his song again,
His pretty song: --
Would that my verse spake clearer
His tender song!
Ye happy, airy creatures!
That in the merry spring
Think not of what misfeatures
Or cares the year may bring;
But unto love
Resign your simple natures,
To tender love.
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Text Authorship:
- by Robert Seymour Bridges (1844 - 1930), no title, appears in Poems, first published 1873 [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 Seymour Barab (1921 - 2014), "I heard a linnet courting " [ soprano, clarinet, and piano ], from Bits and Pieces, no. 9, ECS Publishing [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harry Brook (1893 - ?), "I heard a linnet", published 1949 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin James Dale (1885 - 1943), "I heard a linnet", c1939 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dorothea Edge , "I heard a linnet courting", published 1958 [ 2-part chorus of equal voices and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Edward Galway , "I heard a linnet courting" [ 2-part chorus of treble voices and piano ], in the Dominion Song Book, no. 13 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ivy Herbert , "The linnet", published 1947 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harold Noble (1903 - 1998), "I heard a linnet courting", published 1969 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Horace Ian Parrott (b. 1916), "I heard a linnet courting", published 1948 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Douglas Steele (1910 - 1999), "I heard a linnet courting", Manchester, Forsyth Publications [sung text checked 1 time]
- by David E. Stone (b. 1922), "The linnet", published 1948 [ mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Oldfield Turner (1905 - ?), "The linnet", published 1959 [ satb chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Set in a modified version by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-08
Line count: 28
Word count: 124