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

 [Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve,-]3

 [Nay, that's not next. -- Hark! who is't that knocks?

Emilia:
 It's the wind.]1

Desdemona:
 [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

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Fortner, Korngold, Parry, Vaughan Williams
² Korngold: "my garland must be"
³ omitted by Parry, Vaughan Williams, Fortner
⁴ omitted by Parry, Vaughan Williams
⁴ 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!"

Text 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]

Based on:

• a text in Middle English from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Willow song", first published 1583
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "Willow song", op. 19 no. ? (1954-64), published 1976 [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespearean Songs, Lexington : Kelley [sung text not yet checked]
• by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "The poor soul sat sighing", 1934 [ voice and piano ], from Six Shakespeare Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851 - 1935), "A poor soul sat sighing", published 1885 [ SA chorus (or vocal duet for soprano and alto) with piano ], from Six Songs for two voices, from Shakespeare (reissued as Six Shakespeare Songs), no. 2, London : J. Curwen & Sons [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "The willow", 1923, published 1925 [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book V, no. 2, London : Chester [sung text not yet checked]
• by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "The Willow Song", op. 79 (1911), published 1911 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "Willow, willow", 1946, published 1947 [ voice and piano ], from Songs nach Texten von William Shakespeare mit Klavierbegleitung , no. 5, Mainz : Schott, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957), "Desdemona's song", op. 31 no. 1 (1940-1) [ soprano and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "Willow, willow, willow", 1881-1883, published 1885, from English Lyrics, First Set, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "The willow song", published 1974 [ medium voice, flute, and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "The willow song", published 1866 [ voice and piano ], from 5 Shakespeare Songs [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The willow song", 1890-2, published 1913, first performed 1913 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Elizabethan Songs, London : Joseph Williams [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Edvard Lembcke (1815 - 1897) ; composed by Peter Arnold Heise.
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• Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Percy Aldridge Grainger.
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• Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Peter Warlock.
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• Also set in English, [adaptation] ; composed by Edmund Horace Fellowes.
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• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri Bassis (1916 - 1992) , copyright © ; composed by Joseph Kosma.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Carl Loewe.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Wilhelm Petersen.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation possibly by Johann Michael Vogl (1768 - 1840); composed by Johann Michael Vogl.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Georg Mantey ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Hermann Wichmann.
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• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890 - 1960) ; composed by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• RUS Russian (Русский) (Boris Leonidovich Pasternak)

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 119