Bright is the ring of words | Bright is the ring of words

Bright is the ring of words

Language: English

Our translations: CAT HUN ITA LIT

Bright is the ring of words
When the right man rings them,
Fair the fall of songs
When the singer sings them,
Still they are carolled and said -
On wings they are carried -
After the singer is dead
And the maker buried.

Low as the singer lies
In the field of heather,
Songs of his fashion bring
The swains together.
And when the west is red 
With the sunset embers,
The lover lingers and sings
And the maid remembers.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• P. Warlock • P. Warlock

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Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), no title, appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 14, first published 1896 [author's text not yet checked 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 (Francis) Clive Saville Carey (1883 - 1968), "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Two "Songs of Travel" [sung text not yet checked]
by Roland Farley (1892 - 1932), "Bright is the ring of words", <<1932 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Song and singer", 1911 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Henry Hadow, Sir (1859 - 1937), "Bright is the ring of words", <<1937 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Alistair Hinton (b. 1950), "Bright is the ring", op. 40 no. 2 [ high soprano and piano ], from Six Songs for high soprano and piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Samuel Liddle (1864? - 1951), "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Geoffrey O'Hara (1882 - 1967), "Bright is the ring of words", published 1947 [ TTBB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Colin George Henry Oliver (1910 - 1997), "Bright is the ring of words", 1939 [ soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "Bright is the ring of words", published 1903 [ voice and piano ], from Two songs [sung text not yet checked]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Bright Is The Ring Of Words", op. 71 (1945) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Bright is the Ring of Words", op. 577 (1960) [sung text not yet checked]
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Bright is the ring of words", 1904, from Songs of Travel, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Bright is the ring of words", 1918, published 1983 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "To the memory of a great singer", 1922, published 1923 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Arnold Williams , "Bright is the ring of words", published <<1940 [ TTBB chorus (a cappella?) ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 80