by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)
The fiddler
Language: English
The fiddler knows what's brewing To the lilt of his lyric wiles: The fiddler knows what rueing Will come of this night's smiles! He sees couples join them for dancing, And afterwards joining for life, He sees them pay high for their prancing By a welter of wedded strife. He twangs: "Music hails from the devil, Though vaunted to come from heaven, For it makes people do at a revel What multiplies sins by seven. "There's many a heart now mangled, And waiting its time to go, Whose tendrils were first entangled By my sweet viol and bow!"
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928), "The fiddler", appears in Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses, first published 1909 [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 Frederic Austin (1872 - 1952), "The fiddler", published 1927 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Wessex Songs [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arnold Atkinson Cooke (1906 - 2005), "The fiddler" [ baritone and piano ], from Country Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "The fiddler", 2006 [ baritone and piano ], from Julie Jane -- 5 songs for Baritone and Piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 100