Two Shakespeare Songs

Song Cycle by Cheryl Frances-Hoad (b. 1980)

1. Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
  [To-morrow is]1 Saint Valentine's day,
  All in the morning [betime]2,
  And I a maid at your window,
  To be your Valentine.
  Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
  And dupp'd the chamber-door;
  Let in the maid, that out a maid
  Never departed more.

[Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!]3
  By Gis and by Saint Charity,
  Alack, and fie for shame!
  Young men will do't, if they come to't;
  By cock, they are to blame.
  Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
  You promised me to wed.

  [So]4 would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
  An thou hadst not come to my bed.

Text Authorship:

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

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These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

1 Quilter: "Good morrow, 'tis "
2 Quilter: "time"
3 omitted by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Grill
4 Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "He answers,/ So"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

2. They bore him barefaced on the bier  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
They bore him barefaced on the bier;
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;
And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--
[Fare you well, my dove!]1

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in Hamlet
  • sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

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

View original text (without footnotes)

These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

1 omitted by Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 138