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If music be the food of love, Sing on till I am fill'd with joy; For then my list'ning soul you move To pleasures that can never cloy. Your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare That you are music ev'rywhere. Pleasures invade both eye and ear, So fierce the transports are, they wound, And all my senses feasted are, Tho' yet the treat is only sound, Sure I must perish by your charms, Unless you save me in your arms.
Text Authorship:
- by Henry Heveningham, Colonel (1651 - 1700) [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), "If music be the food of love", 1947 [ voice and piano ], a realization of the Purcell song. Confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "If music be the food of love", 1948 [ voice and piano ], a realization of the first version of Purcell's song. Confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "If music be the food of love", 1933, published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Old wine in new bottles: four Restoration songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "If music be the food of love", Z. 379, published 1692, published in Gentleman's Journal or Monthly Miscellany, June 1692 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998), "If music be the food of love", note: this is a realization of a Purcell song. [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Wim Zwaag (b. 1960), "If music be the food of love ", 2003 [ soprano and cello ], from Music for a while, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Si la música és l’aliment de l’amor", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Si la musique est la nourriture de l'amour", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Elaine Marie Ortiz-Arandes) , "Wenn Musik die Nahrung der Liebe ist", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Se la musica è il cibo dell'amore", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 80
Si la música és l’aliment de l’amor, canta fins que m’ompli de joia; car llavors menaràs la meva ànima que escolta vers plaers que no poden ser mai saciats. Els teus ulls, el teu semblant, la teva llengua proclamen que tu ets música a tot arreu. Els plaers envaeixen ensems l’ull i l’orella, les sensacions són tan violentes que fereixen, i tots els meus sentits frueixen per bé que el gaudi sigui tan sols sonor. A ben cert moriré per els teus encants, a menys que em salvis en els teus braços.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2024 by Salvador Pila, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Henry Heveningham, Colonel (1651 - 1700)
This text was added to the website: 2024-09-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 92