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On the death of Antony

Set by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "On the death of Antony", op. 40 no. 1 (1968), published 1968 [ soprano, women's chorus, and piano ], from Two Choruses from "Anthony and Cleopatra", no. 1 [Sung Text]

Note: this setting is made up of several separate texts.


Cleopatra
Noblest of men, woo't die?
Hast thou no care of me?  ...  O see, my women,

  (Mark Antony dies)

The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!
O wither'd is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.

(Faints)

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "La mort d'Antoine", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

See also Thomas Pasatieri's setting {link:1116714}Antony and Cleopatra.

Researcher for this page: Ivan Nunes 


CLEOPATRA
    I dream't there was an Emperor Antony:
    O, such another sleep, that I might see
    But such another man!

DOLABELLA
    If it might please ye,--

CLEOPATRA
     ... 

DOLABELLA
    Most sovereign creature,--

CLEOPATRA
    His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
    Crested the world:  ...  his delights
    Were dolphin-like; they show'd his back above
    The element they lived in:  ... 

DOLABELLA
    Cleopatra!

CLEOPATRA
    Think you there was, or might be, such a man
    As this I dream'd of?

DOLABELLA
    Gentle madam, no.

CLEOPATRA
    You lie, up to the hearing of the gods.
    But, if there be, or ever were, one such,
    It's past the size of dreaming:  ...

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

Note: Mollicone's setting omits all of Dolabella's lines; Barber's includes only "Gentle madam, no". Mollicone's setting ends "As plates dropp'd from his pocket"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Author(s): William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)