Stay, O sweet, and do not rise ;
The light, that shines comes from thine eyes ;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay, or else my joys will die,
And perish in their infancy.
[ ... ]
Four Elizabethan Songs
Song Cycle by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000)
Word count: 464
1. Daybreak [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Break of Day" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Spring's welcome [sung text checked 1 time]
What bird so sings, yet so does wail? O 'tis the ravish'd nightingale. Jug, jug, jug, tereu! she cries, And still her woes at midnight rise. Brave prick-song! Who is't now we hear? None but the lark so shrill and clear; Now at heaven's gate she [claps]1 her wings, The morn not waking till she sings. Hark, hark, with what a pretty throat Poor robin redbreast tunes his note: Hark how the jolly cuckoos sing Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring! Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring!
Authorship
- by John Lyly (1553 - 1606), "Spring's welcome" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
1 Fine: "clasps"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. Dirge [sung text checked 1 time]
[Come away, come away, death]1,
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!]2
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.
[ ... ]
Authorship
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Twelfth Night: or, What You Will, Act II, scene 4 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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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
1 Fortner: "Death, come away, come away"
2 Dring: "Come prepare it"
3 Leguerney: "thrown"; Wilkinson: "strewn"
4 Leguerney: "strown"
5 omitted by Korngold
6 omitted by Argento.
7 Amram: "did share it." [mistake?]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. The bargain [sung text checked 1 time]
My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange one [for another]1 given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss,
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me in one,
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own,
I cherish his because in me it bides:
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
Authorship
- by Philip Sidney, Sir (1554 - 1586), title 1: "The bargain", title 2: "A ditty" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824-1897), The Golden Treasury., 1875, as "A ditty"
Parodied in Archibald Stodart-Walker's My true friend hath my hat.
1 Parry: "to the other"Note: Somervell's setting has several changes to the punctuation (as supplied by Mike Pearson):
Line One: No first comma Line Two: "giv'n" and full stop not colon Line Three: No first comma Line Four: "driv'n" and full stop not colon Line Five: No first comma Line Seven: Full stop not colon Line Eight: Full stop not colon Line Ten: No first comma
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]