[To-morrow is]1 Saint Valentine's day,
  All in the morning [betime]2,
  And I a maid at your window,
  To be your Valentine.
  Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
  And dupp'd the chamber-door;
  Let in the maid, that out a maid
  Never departed more.

[Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!]3
  By Gis and by Saint Charity,
  Alack, and fie for shame!
  Young men will do't, if they come to't;
  By cock, they are to blame.
  Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
  You promised me to wed.

  [So]4 would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
  An thou hadst not come to my bed.

J. Brahms sets stanza 1
R. Quilter sets lines 1-4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

¹ Quilter: "Good morrow, 'tis "
² Quilter: "time"
³ omitted by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Grill
⁴ Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "He answers,/ So"

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Hamlet [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
• sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

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

• by Kim Borg (1919 - 2000), "To‑morrow is Saint Valentine's day ", op. 16 no. 2 (1974), published 1977, orchestrated 1981 [ soprano, flute, and viola ], from Ophelia Sings, no. 2, Copenhagen, Engstrøm & Sødring [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), WoO posth. 22 no. 3 (1873), stanza 1, from Ophelia-Lieder, no. 3, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Cheryl Frances-Hoad (b. 1980), "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day" [ voice and piano ], from Two Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day", copyright © 2005 [ soprano, harp and strings ], from Ophelia Songs, no. 4, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Osvaldo Costa de Lacerda (1927 - 2011), "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine' day" [ voice and piano ], from Canções de Ofélia, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "'Tis Saint Valentine's Day", 1917, lines 1-4 [ voice and piano ], arrangement of a melody by Thomas d'Urfey in «Wit and Mirth», 1707 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) , no title ; composed by Johannes Brahms.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868 and sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864); composed by Richard Georg Strauss.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Lassen.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-26
Line count: 17
Word count: 105

Guten Morgen, 's ist Sankt Valentinstag,
  So früh vor Sonnenschein
Ich junge Maid am Fensterschlag
  Will euer Valentin sein.
 
Der junge Mann [thät]1 Hosen an,
  [That]2 auf die Kammerthür,
Ließ ein die Maid, die als ['ne]3 Maid
  Ging nimmermehr herfür.
 
Bei [Sanct]4 Niklas und Charitas!
  Ein unverschämt Geschlecht!
Ein junger Mann thut's, wenn er kann,
  Fürwahr, das ist nicht recht.
 
Sie sprach: Eh' ihr gescherzt mit mir,
  Verspracht ihr mich zu frei'n.
 
Ich bräch's auch nicht, bei'm Sonnenlicht,
  Wär'st du nicht kommen herein.