by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)
Begin to charm, and as thou strok’st my...
Language: English
Begin to charm, and as thou strok’st my ears With thy [endearment]1, melt me into tears. Then let thy active hand scud o’er thy lyre: And make my spirits frantic with the fire. That done, sink down into a silv’ry strain; And make me smooth as Balm, and Oil again.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Nyman: "enchantment"
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), appears in The Hesperides [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 John Golland (1942 - 1993), "To Musick", published 2001 [ voice, recorder, and piano ], from Seven Short Songs for voice, recorder and piano, no. 4, Manchester, Forsyth Publications [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Michael Nyman (b. 1944), "To Music (i)", 2016, first performed 2016 [ counter-tenor and orchestra ], from No Time in Eternity, no. 1, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
Research team for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor] , Mike Pearson
This text was added to the website: 2015-11-02
Line count: 6
Word count: 52