possibly by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625) and possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Orpheus with his lute made trees
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
Orpheus with his lute made trees, And the mountain-tops that freeze, Bow themselves, when he did sing: To his music, plants and flowers Ever [sprung]1; as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Everything that heard him play, Even the billows of the sea, Hung their heads, and then lay by. In sweet music is such art: Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or, hearing, die.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Quoted in Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Act III scene 1
1 Greene: "rose"; Blitzstein: "sprang"
Authorship:
- possibly by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625), appears in Henry VIII [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
- possibly by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Henry VIII [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 Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864 - 1944), "Orpheus with his lute", published [1902?] [ medium voice and piano ], from Nine Songs from Shakespeare, London, Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marc Blitzstein (1905 - 1964), "Orpheus (Lucius's Song)", 1937 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernst Alexander 'Sas' Bunge (1924 - 1980), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1950, from Four XVIIth century poems, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Reinhold Busch (1862 - 1943), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1903 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Orpheus" [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book III, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Chilcot , "The words by Shakespeare in Henry the Eight", published [1743] [ high voice, flute, 2 violins, and basso continuo ], from Twelve English Songs, London : Johnson ; [sic] on the title [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Henry) Walford Davies, Sir (1869 - 1941), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Twenty-one songs, no. 12 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Herbert Foulds (1880 - 1939), "Orpheus with his lute", op. 87 (1925), first performed 1925 [ medium voice and strings ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Mary Ann) Virginia Gabriel (1825 - 1877), "Orpheus" [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Orpheus with his lute", op. 66 no. 7, published 1964 [ women's chorus, piano duet, and optional percussion ], from A Shakespeare Sequence, no. 7, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Steven R. Gerber (b. 1948), "Song4", 1988 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs of William Shakespeare, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Edward German (1862 - 1936), "Orpheus with his lute" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Greene (1696 - 1755), "Orpheus with his lute" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Orpheus", 1914, published 1920 [ mezzo-soprano and instrumental ensemble ], from Five Elizabethan Songs (The Elizas), no. 1, first setting [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Orpheus with his lute", 1920 [ voice and piano ], second setting [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Hundley (1930 - 2018), "When Orpheus played" [sung text not yet checked]
- by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1950 [ partsong for 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Noël Lee (1924 - 2013), "Orpheus", 1982 [ tenor, clarinet, violoncello, and vibraphone ], from Three Songs from Shakespeare, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "Orpheus, with his lute", 1864 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872 - 1951), "Orpheus with his lute", op. 3 (Five songs) no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Orpheus" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Orpheus with his lute", op. 32 no. 1 (1938), published 1939 [ voice and piano ], from Two Shakespeare Songs (4th set), no. 1, London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jason Rico (b. 1978), "Orpheus with his lute made trees" [ voice, viola ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1974 [ medium voice, flute, and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "Orpheus with his lute", op. 8 (Four Songs) no. 4 (1923) [ voice and piano or harp ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Andrew Schneider (b. 1991), "Orpheus with his lute", 2007 [ ssa chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by William Howard Schuman (1910 - 1992), "Orpheus with his lute" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], from Three New Old Songs, no. 2, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "Orpheus with his lute", published 1866 [ voice and piano ], from 5 Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Orpheus with his lute", 1902, published 1903, first performed 1904 [ voice and piano ], first setting [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Orpheus with his Lute", 1925, published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from 3 Songs from Shakespeare, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929) ; composed by Charles Bordes.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Lassen, Georg Hendrik Witte.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Eduard von Bauernfeld (1802 - 1890) ; composed by Wilhelm Taubert.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Wilhelm (Vilhelm) Eugen Stenhammar (1871 - 1927) ; composed by Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Hamann) , "Orpheus", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 70