by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973)
Let the florid music praise
Language: English
Let the florid music praise, The flute and the trumpet, Beauty's conquest of your face: In that land of flesh and bone, Where from citadels on high Her imperial standards fly, Let the hot sun Shine on, shine on. O but the unlov'd have had power, The weeping and striking, Always; time will bring their hour: Their secretive children walk Through your vigilance of breath To unpardonable death, And my vows break Before his look.
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Text Authorship:
- by W. H. (Wystan Hugh) Auden (1907 - 1973), "Song", appears in Look, Stranger!, first published 1936, revised 1966 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Let the florid music praise!", op. 11 no. 1 (1937), published 1938 [ high voice and piano ], from On This Island, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Peter Dickinson (b. 1934), "Let the florid music praise" [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daniel Rogers Pinkham (1923 - 2006), "Let the florid music praise", published 1949 [ medium voice and string quartet or strings ], from Three Lyric Scenes [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 75