[To-morrow is]1 Saint Valentine's day,
  All in the morning [betime]2,
  And I a maid at your window,
  To be your Valentine.
  Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
  And dupp'd the chamber-door;
  Let in the maid, that out a maid
  Never departed more.

[Indeed, without an oath, I'll make an end on't!]3
  By Gis and by Saint Charity,
  Alack, and fie for shame!
  Young men will do't, if they come to't;
  By cock, they are to blame.
  Quoth she, before you tumbled me,
  You promised me to wed.

  [So]4 would I ha' done, by yonder sun,
  An thou hadst not come to my bed.

J. Brahms sets stanza 1
R. Quilter sets lines 1-4

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

¹ Quilter: "Good morrow, 'tis "
² Quilter: "time"
³ omitted by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Grill
⁴ Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "He answers,/ So"

Authorship

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Hamlet [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
• sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

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

• by Kim Borg (1919 - 2000), "To‑morrow is Saint Valentine's day ", op. 16 no. 2 (1974), published 1977, orchestrated 1981 [ soprano, flute, and viola ], from Ophelia Sings, no. 2, Copenhagen, Engstrøm & Sødring [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), "To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day", WoO posth. 22 no. 3 (1873), stanza 1, from Ophelia-Lieder, no. 3, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day", copyright © 2005 [ soprano, harp and strings ], from Ophelia Songs, no. 4, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Osvaldo Costa de Lacerda (1927 - 2011), "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine' day" [ voice and piano ], from Canções de Ofélia, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "'Tis Saint Valentine's Day", 1917, lines 1-4 [ voice and piano ], arrangement of a melody by Thomas d'Urfey in «Wit and Mirth», 1707 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) , no title ; composed by Johannes Brahms.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868 and sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864); composed by Richard Georg Strauss.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Lassen.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-26
Line count: 17
Word count: 106

Guten Morgen!  Heut ist Sankt Valentinstag!
Seht, wie früh auf ich bin,
Vor eurem Fenster steht die Maid
Als Euer Valentin.
 
Da sprang er auf und zog sich an,
Und ließ sie ein in's Haus,
Sie ging zur Kammer ein als Maid
Doch nicht als Maid heraus.
 
Herr Jesus, ach, Barmherzigkeit!
O pfui, was ist geschen?
Ein junger Mann thut's, wenn er kann,
Mein Sir, das ist nicht schön.
Eh du's gethan, has du mir doch
Die Eh' versprochen fest.
Wort hielt ich dir, hätt'st du zu mir
Dich nicht gelegt in's Nest.