by Anonymous / Unidentified Author and possibly by
Orlando Gibbons (1583 - 1625) and sometimes misattributed to
Thomas Morley (1557 - 1602)
The silver swan who, living, had no note
Language: English
Our translations: FRE GER
The silver swan who, living, had no note,
when death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
thus sung her first and last, and sung no more:
"Farewell all joys, O death come close [mine]1 eyes.
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bachlund, Baxter, Rorem: "my"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Martin Amlin , "The silver swanne", 1984 [ soprano and piano ], from Four Songs on Texts of Anonymous Poets, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The silver swan", 1966 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Garth Baxter (b. 1946), "The silver swan" [ voice and guitar or SATB chorus ], from Three madrigals, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Orlando Gibbons (1583 - 1625), "The silver swan" [ chorus a cappella ], madrigal [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The silver swan", 1949 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "The silver swan" [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Dwain Richardson) , "Le cygne argenté", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Martin Stock) , "Der Silberschwan", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 52
Le cygne argenté
Language: French (Français) after the English
Le cygne argenté, qui, vivant, n'a eu aucune note
Quand la mort s'est approchée et a ouvert sa gorge silencieuse.
A la rive couverte de roseaux, elle a penché son sein et a chanté sa première
et dernière note, puis elle n'a plus chanté:
Adieu, toutes les joies, Ô, la mort, ferme mes yeux;
Vivent plus d'oies que de cygnes, plus de fous que de sages.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2003 by Dwain Richardson, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 66
