White his shroud as the mountain snow,
[Larded]1 with sweet [flowers]2;
Which bewept to the [grave did go]3
With true-love [showers]4.

About the headline (FAQ)

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These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.

¹ Castelnuovo-Tedesco: "Larded all"
² White: "flow'rs"
³ Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Grill: "ground did not go"
⁴ White: "show'rs"

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Hamlet [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
• sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897), no title, WoO posth. 22 no. 2 (1873), from Ophelia-Lieder, no. 2, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "White his shroud", copyright © 2005 [ soprano, harp and strings ], from Ophelia Songs, no. 3, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wolfgang Michael Rihm (1952 - 2024), no title, from Ophelia Sings, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Ophelia's Song", published 1882 [ voice and piano ], London: Boosey & Co.
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    
• by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "How should I your true love know", op. 30 no. 3 (1933), published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs (Third Set), no. 3, London, Boosey
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) ; composed by Johannes Brahms.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Eduard Lassen.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Eduard Lassen.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) and sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864); composed by Richard Georg Strauss.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Krystyn Ostrowski (1811 - 1882) ; composed by Stanisław Moniuszko.
  • Go to the text.
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
• GER German (Deutsch) (Karl Joseph Simrock) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger)
• POL Polish (Polski) (Krystyn Ostrowski)

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-24
Line count: 4
Word count: 26

Sein Leichenhemd weiß wie Schnee zu sehn,
Geziert mit Blumensegen,
Das still betränt zum Grab mußt gehn
Von Liebesregen.