Shakespearean Madrigals, Set 1

Song Cycle by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937)

?. Tell me where  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Tell me where is Fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourishèd?
Reply, reply.

It is engender'd in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and Fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring Fancy's knell:
I'll begin it, - Ding, dong, bell.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Victor Hugo)
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dimmi dove nasce amore", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

?. I am gone, sir   [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
I am gone, sir,
And anon, sir,
I'll be with you again,
in a trice,
Like to the old vice,
Your need to sustain.

Who with dagger of lath
In his rage and his wrath,
Cries, aha, to the devil, aha, ha, ha!
Like a mad lad,
Pare thy nails, dad.
Adieu, good man devil.

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?. Fie on sinful fantasy  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Fie on sinful fantasy!
Fie on lust and luxury!
Lust is but a bloody fire,
Kindled with unchaste desire,
Fed in heart, whose flames aspire,
As thoughts do blow them higher and higher.
Pinch him, fairies, mutually;
Pinch him for his villany;
Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,
Till candles and star-light and moonshine be out.

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 164