Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever; [ One foot in sea and one on shore; To one thing constant never. ]1 Then sigh not so, But let them go, And be you blithe and bonny; Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny. Sing no more ditties, sing no more, Of dumps so dull and heavy; [ The fraud of men was ever so Since summer first was leavy. ]1 Then sigh not so, But let them go, And be you blithe and bonny; Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny.
Four Shakespeare Songs
Song Cycle by Betty Roe (b. 1930)
1. Sigh no more  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pauline Kroger) , "De samenzwering", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Carlo Rusconi) , first published 1859
- POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Śpiew Baltazara", first published 1907
1 Lines reversed in version set by Fisher
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
2. Come away, death  [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. Not a flower, not a flower sweet, On my black coffin let there be [strown]3; Not a friend, not a friend greet My poor corpse, where my bones shall be [thrown]4: [A thousand, [thousand]5 sighs to save,]6 Lay me, O where [Sad]5 true lover never find my grave, [To weep there!]7
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]
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
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]
3. The willow song  [sung text not yet checked]
Desdemona The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow: Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow: The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans; Sing willow, willow, willow; Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones; [Lay by these:--]1 Sing willow, willow, willow; [Prithee, hie thee; he'll come anon:--]1 Sing all a green willow [must be my garland.]2 [Sing all a green willow;]3 [Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve,-]4 [Nay, that's not next.--Hark! who is't that knocks? Emilia: It's the wind.]1 Desdemona: [Sing willow, willow, willow,]3 [I call'd my love false love; but what said he then? Sing willow, willow, willow: If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!]4 [Sing willow, willow, willow,]3
Authorship
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act IV scene 3 [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- a text in Middle English from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Willow song", first published 1583
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
1 not set by Fortner, Korngold, Parry, Vaughan Williams
2 Korngold: "my garland must be"
3 added by Korngold
4 not set by Parry, Vaughan Williams; Fortner: "I'd called my love false love, but what did he say? / Sing willow, willow willow,/ If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men!"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. Orpheus with his lute  [sung text not yet checked]
Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves, when he did sing: To his music, plants and flowers Ever [sprung]1; as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Everything that heard him play, Even the billows of the sea, Hung their heads, and then lay by. In sweet music is such art: Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or, hearing, die.
Authorship
- possibly by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625), appears in Henry VIII [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Henry VIII [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Orpheus", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Quoted in Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Act III scene 1
1 Greene: "rose"; Blitzstein: "sprang"
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry