When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl:
Tu-who! 
Tu-whit! Tu-who! -- A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl
Then nightly sings the staring owl:
Tu-who! 
Tu-whit! Tu-who! -- A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2 [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 Dominick Argento (1927 - 2019), "Winter", 1957, published 1970 [ high voice and piano ], from 6 Elizabethan Songs, no. 3, New York, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864 - 1944), "Winter", published [1902?] [ low voice and piano ], from Nine Songs from Shakespeare, London, Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
• by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778), "When icicles hang by the wall" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "When icicles hang by the wall ", op. 9 no. ? (1953-6), first performed 1974 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Shakespearean Madrigals, Set 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "When icicles hang by the wall", 1919, published 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Benjamin Carr (1769 - 1831), "When icicles hang by the wall", published [1794] [ voice and piano ], from Four Ballads. Three from Shakespear and one by Harwood [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Convery , "Winter", 1982, published 1985, rev. 1983 [ SATB chorus a cappella (originally, SSA chorus a cappella) ], from Five Madrigals, New York : Boosey [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "When icicles hang by the wall", op. 28a no. 2 (1946-7) [ voice, small orchestra ], from Four Songs from Love's Labours Lost, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "When icicles hang by the wall", copyright © 1884 [ bass voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "When icicles hang", 1946 [ voice and piano ], from Songs nach Texten von William Shakespeare mit Klavierbegleitung , no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877 - 1950), "Winter", 1908, published 1912 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "When icicles hang by the wall ", op. 181 no. 2 (1988) [ counter-tenor, recorder, harpsichord, and violoncello ], from Six by Four, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "When icicles hang by the wall", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "When icicles hang" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Matthew-Walker (b. 1939), "When icicles hang by the wall ", op. 40 no. 3 (1980) [ soprano and piano ], from Music to Hear (five Elizabethan Songs for soprano and piano), no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "When Icicles hang by the wall", R. 76 no. 4 (1940), published 1940 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "When icicles hang by the wall", 1874-1885, published 1886, from English Lyrics, Second Set, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "When icicles hang", op. 32 no. 2 (1938), published 1939 [ voice and piano ], from Two Shakespeare Songs (4^th set), no. 2, London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Winter" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "When icicles hang by the wall", 1925, published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from 3 Songs from Shakespeare, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "The cuckoo and the owl" [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book VII, no. 3
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Camille de Sainte-Croix (1859 - 1915) ; composed by Paul Vidal.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853) , no title ; composed by Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen, Wilhelm Petersen.
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• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890 - 1960) ; composed by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Clive Robinson

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 107