Three Shakespeare Songs (First Set)

Song Cycle by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953)

1. Come away, death
(Sung text)

Language: English

Come away, come away, death,
  And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
  I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
  O prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
  Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
  On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
  My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown:
A thousand, thousand sighs to save,
  Lay me, O where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
  To weep there!

Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Twelfth Night: or, What You Will, Act II, scene 4

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Jan Jonk) , "Kom toch gauw, kom toch gauw, dood", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "Komm herbei, komm herbei, Tod", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Vieni, o morte", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , "Kom hit, kom nå hit, død", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
POL Polish (Polski) (Józef Komierowski) , no title

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. O mistress mine
(Sung text)

Language: English

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear, your true love's coming 
That can sing both high and low.

Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers' meeting,
Ev'ry wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:

In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty;
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Twelfth Night: or, What You Will, Act II, Scene 3

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (David Paley) , "O Fräulein meins! Woher du wanderst", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "O mia signora", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
POL Polish (Polski) (Józef Komierowski) , no title [an adaptation]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Blow, blow thou winter wind
(Sung text)

Language: English

Blow, blow thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)

Note: In Steele's score, "Heigh" is spelled "Hey"

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

Total word count: 305

Three Shakespeare Songs (First Set)

Song Cycle by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953)

1. Come away, death (Sung text)

2. O mistress mine (Sung text)

3. Blow, blow thou winter wind (Sung text)

1. Come away, death
(Sung text)

2. O mistress mine
(Sung text)

3. Blow, blow thou winter wind
(Sung text)