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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

If music be the food of love
 (Sung text for setting by J. Hall)
 See original
Language: English 
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
 ... 
Note: quoted in a text by Heveningham.

Composition:

    Set to music by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "If music be the food of love", 2015, first performed 2016, lines 1-7 [ counter-tenor and piano ], from O Mistress Mine -- 12 Songs for countertenor and piano on texts from plays by William Shakespeare, no. 6

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Twelfth Night: or, What You Will, Act I, Scene 1, Orsino's lines, first published 1601

See other settings of this text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-02-11
Line count: 15
Word count: 114

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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