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Bright be the place of thy soul! No lovelier spirit than thine E'er burst from its mortal control, In the orbs of the blessed to shine. On earth thou wert all but divine, As thy soul shall immortally be; And our sorrow may cease to repine, When we know that thy God is with thee. Light be the turf of thy tomb! May its verdure like emeralds be: There should not be the shadow of gloom In aught that reminds us of thee. Young flowers and an evergreen tree May spring from the spot of thy rest; But not cypress nor yew let us see, For why should we mourn for the blest?
About the headline (FAQ)
First published in Examiner, June 1815, titled "Stanzas" and signed B---n; revised 1816.
Confirmed with The Complete Works of Lord Byron, ed. by John Galt, Esq., Paris, Baudry's European Library, 1837, page 53.
Text Authorship:
- by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Bright be the place of thy soul", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 25 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Robert Brydges Addison (flourished 1890), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1879? [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Arthur Barker (1812 - 1876), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1870 [ soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charlotte Ann Birch (1815 - 1857), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", 1841 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by F. Bosen , "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1845 [ voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick William Clarke (1852 - 1883), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1880 [ high voice and piano ], from Ten songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Clarke-Whitfeld (1770 - 1836), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1816 [ high voice and piano ], under the name John Clarke [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Lodge Ellerton (1801 - 1873), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published c1870 [ chorus a cappella ], from A Set of Twelve Glees [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", 1837, published 2001 [ voice and piano ], Furore Verlag [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Noel Johnson (1863 - 1916), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1892 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tobias Augustus Matthay (1858 - 1945), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1878 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Stanzas for Music [II] (Bright be the place of thy Soul!)", op. 323 (Sieben Lieder nach George Lord Byron) no. 6 (2021) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Isaac Nathan (1790 - 1864), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1815 [ voice and piano ], from A Selection of Hebrew Melodies No. I, no. 25 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Samuel Harold Oakley , "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1913 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Owens (1925 - 2017), "Bright be the place of thy soul!" [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Pointer (d. 1934), "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 1887 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Three songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by James B. Taylor , "Bright be the place of thy soul!", published 18--? [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Dr. W. Plate ; composed by F. Bosen.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adolf Böttger (1815 - 1870) , "Licht sei der Ort deiner Seele!" ; composed by August Friedrich Wilhelm Reissmann, Hugo von Senger.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866 - 1949) , "Романс" ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Alexis Paulin Pâris) , "Digne de toi soit la demeure de ton âme !", appears in Mélodies hébraïques, no. 25
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 113
Licht zij de plaats van jouw ziel! Geen lieflijker wezen dan jij Vertrok ooit uit dit aardse asiel Om te stralen, de zaal’gen nabij. Op aard was jij haast een godin, Wat je ziel voor eeuwig zal zijn: En ons jamm’ren heeft verder geen zin, Want jij bent in jouw God zijn domein. Licht zij het gras op je graf! Laat smaragdgroen zijn uitstraling zijn: Schijn zelfs van rouw, wij wijzen ’t af; Ons denken aan jou zij slechts fijn. Laat bloemen en een boom altijd groen Ontstaan op de plek die jou beurt; Maar geef cipres en de ijf1 geen seizoen, Want waarom voor zaal’gen getreurd?
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 De ijf of taxus is, samen met de cipres, de traditionele dodenboom, veel gebruikt op begraafplaatsen.
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation from English to Dutch (Nederlands) copyright © 2017 by Lau Kanen, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., please ask the copyright-holder(s) directly.
Lau Kanen. Contact: boudewijnkanen (AT) gmail (DOT) com
If the copyright-holder(s) are unreachable for three business days, please write to: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), "Bright be the place of thy soul", appears in Hebrew Melodies, no. 25
This text was added to the website: 2017-06-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 108