by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)
When I am dead, my dearest
Language: English
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Song", appears in Goblin Market and other Poems, first published 1862 [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 Gilbert A. Alcock , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1911 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Arditti (b. 1964), "When I am dead, my dearest", op. 10 no. 3, from Three Songs of Christina Rossetti, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Roger Ascham (1864 - 1934), "When I am dead, my dearest", op. 22 (Twelve Songs with Pianoforte Accompaniment) no. 3 (1882-1899), published c1910 [ voice and piano ], London, Charles Vincent [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Frederic Austin (1872 - 1952), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1911 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Barry (1876 - 1943), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1898 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edgar Beck-Slinn , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1904 [ alto or baritone and piano ], from Songs of the Heart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Felix Borowski (1872 - 1956), "When I am dead, my dearest", <<1956 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Branson , "Song", published 1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Refection", published 1961 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "When I am dead" [sung text not yet checked]
- by James Henry Baseden Butt (b. 1929), "When I am dead", published 1974 [ soprano and piano ], from Women Speaking [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sing no sad songs for me", published 1952 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Four Christina Rossetti Settings [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Whitefield Chadwick (1854 - 1931), "When I am dead", 1910 [sung text not yet checked]
- by H. J. Cheney , "When I am dead, my dearest ", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Cliffe (1857 - 1931), "When I am dead, my dearest ", published 1902 [ voice and piano ], from Two Merry Songs and Two Sad Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eric Coates (1886 - 1957), "When I am dead" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912), "When I am dead, my dearest", op. 57 no. 2 (1904), published 1904 [ alto and piano ], from Six Sorrow Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Redgrave Cripps (1882 - 1950), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1909 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Brian Blyth Daubney (b. 1929), "When I am dead, my dearest", 1948 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George A. Davies (b. 1920), "When I am dead, my dearest" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "Madrigal", published 1947 [ satb chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Oliver Henry Edwards (b. 1902), "When I am dead", published <<1972 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], also set in Welsh (Cymraeg) [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Selwyn English (b. 1912), "The cypress tree", published 1961 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by T. Walton Gillibrand , "When I am dead", published 1871? [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Blanche Goode , "When I am dead, my dearest", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Greaves (1889 - 1966), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1946 [ alto or baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Hageman (1881 - 1966), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1941 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "When I am dead, my dearest" [ soprano and piano ], from Christina's World -- 5 Songs for Soprano and Piano on Poems by Christina Rossetti, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Edward C. Harris (1899 - ?), "When I am dead, my dearest", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis Hueffer (see Franz Hüffer (1843 - 1889)), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1973 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elaine Hugh-Jones (b. 1927), "Song" [ voice and piano ], from The Silent Land: Two Poems by Christina Rossetti, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Hugill , "Song" [ mezzo-soprano, viola, piano ], from Quickening, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Beroald Innes , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1895 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "When I am dead, my dearest", 1924, published 1928 [ voice and piano or string quartet ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1861 - 1946), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1902 [ voice and piano ], from Twelve Songs, no. 7, London : Frederick Harris [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "Sing no sad songs for me" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jón Þórarinsson (b. 1917), "When I am dead", published 1966 [ baritone and orchestra ], from Of Love and Death [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerald Kechley (b. 1919), "Sing no sad songs", published 1969 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerald Kechley (b. 1919), "When I am dead", 1972 [ soprano and 2 flutes ], from Three Rossetti Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gustav Klemm (1897 - 1947), "My dearest" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lori Laitman (b. 1955), "Song", first performed 1995 [ soprano and piano ], from Days and Nights, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Malcolm Leonard Lawson (b. 1849), "Hereafter", published 1893 [ voice and piano ], in the collection First Album of People's Songs and others [sung text not yet checked]
- by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "When I am dead, my dearest", c1918 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "When I am dead, my dearest", op. 6 no. 2, copyright © 1964, first performed 1964 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Song Cyclette of Three Girls' Love Songs, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Rex Le Lacheur , "Sing no sad songs", published 1970 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Campbell MacKenzie, Sir (1847 - 1935), "When I am dead", published 1878 [ voice and piano ], from Three Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Requiem", op. 181 no. 1 (2010), published 2013 [ voice and piano ], from Zwei Lieder nach Christina Rossetti, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Earle Mitchell (1895 - 1967), "Sing no sad songs for me", published 1928 [ voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Finley Nevin (1871 - 1943), "If thou wilt", published <<1929 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Tertius Noble (1867 - 1953), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1922 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by O. Norman , "Sing no sad songs for me", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juan Antonio Orrego Salas (1919 - 2019), "Song", 1945, first performed 1948 [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Winthrop Parkhurst , "Epitaph", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Helen Lucas Pyke (d. 1954), "When I am dead, my dearest", published c1949 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "A song at parting", published 1952 [ voice and piano ], Elkin [sung text not yet checked]
- by Oscar Rasbach (1888 - 1975), "When I am dead, my dearest", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "When I Am Dead, My Dearest", op. 436 (1955) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hugh Stevenson Roberton, Sir (1874 - 1952), "Remembrance", published 1928 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Martin Roeder (1851 - 1895), "Entreaty", <<1895, published <<1929 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Simon Sargon (b. 1938), "Song", 1982 [ low voice and piano ], from Bitter for Sweet, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "When I am dead, my dearest", 1922 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sibyl , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1870 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alice Mary Smith (1839 - 1884), "Song", published <<1893 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "When I am dead", published 1888 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by T. Wallace Southam , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1966 [ voice and piano ], from Poetry Set in Jazz [sung text not yet checked]
- by Evelyn Hope Squire (1878 - 1935), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1938 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Halsey Stevens (1908 - 1989), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1942 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Still (1910 - 1971), "Song (When I am dead, my dearest)" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "When I am dead, my dearest", c1903, published 1903, first performed 1905 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jack Villaume (b. 1907), "Nature's Requiem", published 1957 [ voice and piano ], from By the Moongate [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vally Weigl, née Pick (c1894 - 1982), "When I am dead, my dearest", c1969-70 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joel Weiss , "When I am dead my dearest" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur Battelle Whiting (1861 - 1936), "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1904 [ soprano and piano ], from Three Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (1931 - 2003), "When I am dead", published 1967 [ voice and piano or string orchestra ], from Six English Lyrics [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jesse M. Winne , "When I am dead, my dearest", published 1936 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Huntington Woodman (1861 - 1943), "If you dare forget", published <<1929 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Davide Zannoni , "Aldina", 1999, first performed 2000 [ soprano and vibraphone ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Davide Zannoni , "Citadel of softness", 2007 [ SATB chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Davide Zannoni , "Song", 2006, first performed 2006 [ soprano or tenor and vibraphone ], from Three Rossetti Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Alfred Kerr (1867 - 1948) , no title ; composed by Paul Dessau, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Richard Maux.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Helen Dellenbauch Tretbar (1835 - 1902) ; composed by Frank Valentin Van der Stucken.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ján Móry.
- Also set in Welsh (Cymraeg), a translation by Cynan ; composed by Oliver Henry Edwards.
- 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.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nach meinem Tode, Liebster", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Canzone", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 87