[Why,]1 if the Soul can fling the Dust aside
And naked on the air of Heaven ride,
Were't not a shame -- were't not a shame for him
In this clay carcase crippled to abide?

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¹ Lehmann: "But"

Text Authorship:

• by Edward Fitzgerald (1809 - 1883), no title, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Third Edition, no. 44, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Fourth Edition, no. 44, first published 1872 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hakim Omar Khayyám (c1048 - c1122) [text unavailable]
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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 Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside", published 1906 [ soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from Omar Khayyám, Part I, no. 44, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside", 1896 [ soprano ], from In a Persian Garden, no. 13, recitative [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Henry Houseley (1852? - 1925), "Part 5", published 1917 [ soli, chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Omar Khayyám, no. 5, New York : H. W. Gray
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2006-04-08
Line count: 4
Word count: 34