I would I were Actaeon, whom Diana did disguise, To walk the woods unknown whereas my lady lies; A hart of pleasant hue I wish that I were so, So that my lady knew alone me and no mo; To follow thick and plain, by hill and dale alow, To drink the water fain, and feed me with the sloe. I would not fear the frost, to lie upon the ground, Delight should quite the cost, what pain so that I found. The shaling nuts and mast that falleth from the tree Should serve for my repast, might I my lady see; Sometime that I might say when I saw her alone, "Behold thy slave, all day that walks these woods unknown!'
Seven Songs of Summer
by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930)
. Walking the Woods
Authorship:
- by ? Bewe (flourished c1576) [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):
Set by by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), 1927, published 1927 [ voice and piano ]Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
1. The passionate shepherd  [sung text not yet checked]
Come live with me and be my Love, And we will all the pleasures prove [That hills and valleys, dales and field, Or woods or steepy mountain yields]1. [And we will sit upon the rocks]2 And see the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. [And I will]3 make thee beds of roses [And]4 a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and [a]5 kirtle Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle. [A gown made of the finest]6 wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull, [Fair linèd slippers]7 for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold. A belt of straw and ivy buds [With coral clasps and amber studs:]8 [And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my Love]9. The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May-morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my Love.
Authorship:
- by Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593), "The passionate shepherd to his love"
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View original text (without footnotes)First published in England's Helicon, 1600
1 Fine: "That hills and valleys, dales and fields,/ Or woods or steepy mountain yields." ; Moeran: "That grove or valley, hill or field,/ Or wood and steepy mountain yield"; Webbe: "That grove and valley, hill and field/ Or woods and steepy mountains yield"
2 Moeran: "Where we will sit on rising rocks"; Webbe: "There will we sit upon the rocks"
3 Moeran: "Pleased will I"; Webbe: "There will I"
4 Moeran, Webbe: "And twine"
5 Moeran, Webbe: "rural"
6 Moeran: "A jaunty gown of finest"
7 Moeran: "And shoes lined choicely"
8 Webbe: "A coral clasp and amber studs"; omitted by Fine.
9 Moeran: "If these, these pleasures can thee move,/ Then live with me and be my love."; Webbe: "And if these pleasures may thee move,/ Then live with me and be my love
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. The contented lover  [sung text checked 1 time]
Now sleep, and take thy rest, Once griev'd and painèd wight, Since she now loves thee best Who is thy heart's delight. Let joy be thy soul's guest, And care be banish'd quite, Since she hath thee express'd To be her favourite.
Authorship:
- by James Mabbe (1572 - 1642?), first published 1631
Based on:
- a text in Spanish (Español) by Fernando de Rojas (c1470 - 1541) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Youth  [sung text not yet checked]
In an harbour1 grene aslepe whereas I lay The byrdes sang swete in the middes of the day: I dreamèd fast of mirth and play. In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Me thought I walkèd still to and fro, And from her company I could not go, But when I wakèd it was not so. In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Therefore my heart is surely pyght2 Of her alone to have a sight Which is my joy and hearte's delight. In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Modernized spelling In an arbour green asleep whereas I lay The birds sang sweet in the [middis]3 of the day: I dreamed fast of mirth and play; In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Methought I walked still to and fro, And from her company I could not go, But when I waked it was not so. In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Therefore my heart is surely pight 4 Of her alone to have a sight Which is my joy and heart's delight. In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. Original version, Lusty Iuventus of youth he syngeth In a herber grene a sleep where as I lay, The byrdes sang swete in y middes of the day, I dreamed fast of myrth and play, In youth is plesure, in youth is pleasure. Me thought I walked stil to and fro, And from her company I could not go, But when I waked it was not so, In youth is plesure, in youth is plesure. Therfore my hart is surely pyght Of her alone to have a sight. Which is my joy and hartes delyght, In youth is plesure, in youth is pleasure. Finis.
Authorship:
- by R. Wever, probably Richard Wever (c1500? - 1560?), appears in An Enterlude called Lusty Juventus, first published 1565
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View original text (without footnotes)1 presumably "arbour" (note from score)
2 old past participle of pitch := resolved, set upon. (note from score)
3 Moeran: "middes"; Warlock (in "Youth"): "middès"
4 Note from score: pight: fixed, determined.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. The sweet o' the year  [sung text not yet checked]
When daffodils begin to peer - With heigh! The doxy over the dale - Why, then comes the sweet o' the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. The white sheet bleaching on the hedge - With heigh! The sweet birds, O how they sing! Doth set my pugging tooth on edge; For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. The lark, that tirra-lirra chants, With heigh! with heigh! The thrush and the jay, Are summer songs for me and my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay. But shall I go mourn for that, my dear? The pale moon shines by night: And when I wander here and there, I then do most go right. Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a: A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a.
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in A Winter's Tale, Act IV, Scene 3
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title
1 Not set by Quilter.
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
5. Tom Tyler  [sung text checked 1 time]
I am a poor tiler in simple array, And get a poor living, but eightpence a day, My wife as I get it, doth spend it away;1 [For]2 wedding and hanging is destiny. And I cannot help it, she saith; wot we why? I thought when I wed her, she had been a sheep, At board to be friendly, to sleep when I sleep. She loves so unkindly, she makes me to weep; But I dare say nothing, God wot! wot ye why?1 [For]2 wedding and hanging is destiny. Besides this unkindness whereof my grief grows, I think few tilers are match'd with such shrows; Before she leaves brawling, she falls to deal blows Which, early and late, doth cause [me cry]3 That wedding and hanging is destiny. The more that I please her, the worse she doth like me; The more I forbear her, the more she doth strike me; The more that I get her, the more she doth glike me; Woe worth this ill fortune that maketh me cry1 That wedding and hanging is destiny. If I had been hanged when I had been married, My torments had ended, though I had miscarried; If I had been warned, then would I have tarried; But now all too lately I feel [and cry]4 That wedding and hanging is destiny.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, first published 1661
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Tom Tyler and His Wife, An Excellent Old Play, As It was Printed and Acted about a hundred Years ago
1 Warlock adds: "The proverb reporteth, no man can deny"2 Warlock: "That"
3 Warlock: "me to cry/ The proverb reporteth, no man can deny"
4 Warlock: "and I cry/ The proverb reporteth, no man can deny"
Glossary: glike = gleek: trick or circumvent;
shrows = shrews: railing or scolding women ;
wot = know
Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe
6. Eloré Lo  [sung text checked 1 time]
In a garden so green in a May morning Heard I my lady pleen of paramours; Said she: "My love so sweet, come you not yet, nor yet, Heght you not me to meet amongst the flow'rs? Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, I love my lusty love, Eloré lo! Then to my lady blyth did I my presence kyth, Saying: "My bird be glad! Am I not yours? So in my armes two did I the lusty jo, And kissed her times mo than night hath hours. Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, I love my lusty love, Eloré lo! Favour and duty unto your bright beauty Confirmed hath law-tie, oblieged to truth, So that your soverance, heartlie but variance, Mark in your memorance mercy and ruth. Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, Eloré, I love my lusty love, Eloré lo!
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author ( 17th century )
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Glossary: pleen: play, pleaheght = hight: bid, call
kith: become acquainted with
jo: sweetheart
ruth: compassion, pity
Researcher for this page: David K. Smythe
7. The droll lover  [sung text checked 1 time]
I love for thy fickleness, And great inconstancy; For had'st thou been a constant lass, Then thou had'st ne'er loved me. I love thee for thy wantonness, And for thy drollery, For if thou had'st not loved to sport, Then thou had'st ne'er loved me. I love thee for thy poverty, And for thy want of coin, For if thou had'st been worth a groat, Then thou had'st ne'er been mine. I love thee for thy ugliness, And for thy foolery, For if thou had'st been fair or wise, Then thou had'st ne'er loved me.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author ( 17th century )
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]