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by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858)

Eppie Adair 
Language: Scottish (Scots) 
Our translations:  FRE
Chorus
 An' O my Eppie, 
 My jewel, my Eppie! 
 Wha wad na be happy
 Wi' Eppie Adair?

By love and by beauty, 
By law and by duty, 
I swear to be true to
My Eppie Adair!

A' pleasure exile me, 
Dishonour defile me, 
If e'er I beguile thee,
My Eppie Adair!

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 227.

GLOSSARY
Eppie = diminutive form of the name Elspeth.

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Eppie Adair" [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 Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "Eppie Adair", 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Eppie Adair ", JHW. XXXII/1 no. 74, Hob. XXXIa no. 74 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Eppie Adair" ; composed by Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Eppie Adair", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2012-10-04
Line count: 13
Word count: 51

O Eppie, mein Leben!
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the Scottish (Scots) 
Our translations:  ENG
  O Eppie, mein Leben! 
Mein Kleinod, mein Streben! 
Wer möchte nicht leben
  Mit Eppie Adair? 
Dir weih' ich, o Liebe, 
Die zärtlichsten Triebe,
Die treueste Liebe, 
  Mein' Eppie Adair! 

O Eppie, mein Leben! 
Mein Kleinod, mein Streben! 
Wer möchte nicht leben 
  Mit Eppie Adair? 
Mich quäle die Lüge 
Mit Marter und Rüge,
Wenn je ich betrüge
  Mein' Eppie Adair!

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Robert Burns' Gedichte von W. Gerhard, Leipzig, Verlag von Johann Ambr. Barth, 1841, page 136.


Text Authorship:

  • by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858), "Eppie Adair" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Eppie Adair"
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath (1818 - 1896), "O Eppie, mein Leben!", op. 3 (6 Lieder von R. Burns für Tenor oder Sopran) no. 1, published 1841 [ tenor or soprano and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 60

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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