Sing, Maiden sing! 
  Mouths were made for singing;
Listen, -- Songs thou'lt hear
  Through the wide world ringing;
Songs from all the birds, 
  Songs from winds and showers,
Songs from seas and streams,
  Even from sweet flowers.

Hear'st thou the rain,
  How it gently falleth? 
Hearest thou the bird, 
  Who from forest calleth? 
Hearest thou the bee 
  O'er the sunflower ringing? 
Tell us, Maiden, now --
  Should'st thou not be singing? 

Hear'st thou the breeze
  Round the rose-bud sighing? 
And the [small sweet]1 rose 
  Love to love replying?
So should'st thou reply,
  To the [prayer]2 we're bringing: 
So that bud, thy mouth,
  Should [burst]3 forth in singing!

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Barry Cornwall, English Songs, and Other Small Poems: A New Edition, with Additions, London, Chapman and Hall, 1856, page 129.

¹ Bennett, Foote: "sweet small"
² Bennett: "pray'r"
³ Bennett, Foote: "break"

Text Authorship:

• by Bryan Waller Procter (1787 - 1874), as Barry Cornwall, "Sing, Maiden sing!" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by William Sterndale Bennett (1816 - 1875), "Sing, Maiden sing!", op. 36 (Sechs Lieder für 1 Singstimme mit Pianoforte) no. 6, published 1856 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Kistner, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "Sing, Maiden, Sing" [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Klingemann (1798 - 1862) ; composed by William Sterndale Bennett.
  • Go to the text.
    

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2016-06-04
Line count: 24
Word count: 105