Eldorado | Gaily bedight

Eldorado

Language: English

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old -
This knight so bold -
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength 
Failed him, at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow -
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be -
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

Authorship:

by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), "Eldorado" [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 Sherodd Albritton , "Eldorado", published 1953 [sung text not yet checked]
by Creighton Allen (1900 - 1969), "Eldorado", published 1935 [sung text not yet checked]
by Sir Edward Cuthbert Bairstow (1874 - 1946), "Eldorado", published 1937 [sung text not yet checked]
by R. O. Beachcroft , "Eldorado", published 1925 [sung text not yet checked]
by Jack Hamilton Beeson (b. 1921), "Eldorado" [sung text not yet checked]
by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "Eldorado ", op. 4 no. 6, published 2002, first performed 2003 [ baritone and piano ], from Lenoriana, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
by Leopold Bruenner (1869 - 1963), "Eldorado", op. 1 no. 5, published 1915 [sung text not yet checked]
by Isidore Cohen (1858 - 1935), as Isidore De Lara, "Eldorado", published 1892 [sung text not yet checked]
by Harvey Davies , "Eldorado", published 1941 [sung text not yet checked]
by Wallace Earl De Pue (b. 1932), "Eldorado" [sung text not yet checked]
by David Campbell Dorward (b. 1933), "Eldorado", published 1966 [sung text not yet checked]
by E. M. C. Ezerman , "Eldorado", published 1904 [sung text not yet checked]
by Truman R. Fisher (b. 1927), "Eldorado", published 1969 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ernest Geldart, Reverend , "Eldorado", published 1884 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ulf A. Grahn , "Eldorado", published 1982, first performed 1983 [ baritone, flute, clarinet, violin, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Elliott Griffis (1893 - 1967), "Eldorado", published 1937 [sung text not yet checked]
by John Habash , "Eldorado", published 1964 [sung text not yet checked]
by Nancy A. Haskin , "Eldorado", published 1937 [sung text not yet checked]
by Bruno Siegfried Huhn (1871 - 1950), "Eldorado", published 1914 [sung text not yet checked]
by Clarence Lucas (1866 - 1947), "Eldorado", op. 45 no. 5, published 1904 [sung text not yet checked]
by (James) Albert Mallinson (1870 - 1946), "Eldorado", published 1901 [sung text not yet checked]
by George W. Marston (1840 - 1901), "Eldorado", published 1896 [sung text not yet checked]
by Frederick C. Nicholls (1871 - ?), "Eldorado", published 1938 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alfred A. Oberndorfer , "Eldorado", op. 1 no. 3, published 1911 [sung text not yet checked]
by F. Wilson Parish (1869 - ?), "Eldorado", published 1918 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ellsworth Swan Phelps , "Eldorado", published 1892 [sung text not yet checked]
by Addison Price , "Eldorado", published 1921 [sung text not yet checked]
by Daniel Protheroe (1866 - 1934), "Eldorado", published 1929 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alton Rinker , "Eldorado", published 1968, from American Poets' Suite [sung text not yet checked]
by Albert Rowse , "Eldorado", published 1877 [sung text not yet checked]
by T. Popplewell Royle , "Eldorado", published 1889 [sung text not yet checked]
by Raymond Rôze (1875 - 1920), "Eldorado", published 1903 [sung text not yet checked]
by Edward Oswald Schaaf (1869 - 1939), "Eldorado", published 1900 [sung text not yet checked]
by Bertram Shapleigh (1871 - 1940), "Eldorado", op. 41 (Fünf Lieder) no. 4, published 1901 [ voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Sanford Skilton (1868 - 1941), "Eldorado", published 1894 [sung text not yet checked]
by B. R. Solis , "Eldorado", published 1927 [sung text not yet checked]
by Oscar George Theodore Sonneck (1873 - 1928), "Eldorado", op. 16 (Four Poems by Edgar Allan Poe) no. 3, published 1917 [sung text not yet checked]
by Edgar Stillman-Kelley (1857 - 1944), "Eldorado", op. 8 no. 1, published 1901 [sung text not yet checked]
by Edwin Augustus Sydenham (1847 - 1891), "Eldorado", published 1869 [sung text not yet checked]
by Allen Roy Trubitt (b. 1931), "Eldorado", published 1980 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ursula , "Eldorado", published 1872 [sung text not yet checked]
by Myra Kinney Van Höveln-Carpé , "Eldorado", op. 57b, published 1922 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Henry Walthew (1872 - 1951), "Eldorado", published 1896 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898) , "Eldorado", appears in Les Poèmes d'Edgar Poe, first published 1889 ; composed by Albert Huybrechts.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Hermann Schneider (1860 - 1930) ; composed by Bertram Shapleigh.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Gross (1849 - 1900) , "Das Glück (nach Edgar Allen Poe)" ; composed by Gustav Erlanger.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 97