When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,
I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

[Ever-returning]1 spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming [perennial and drooping star in the west]2,
And thought of him I love.

G. Crumb sets lines 1, 3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Fine: "O Ever-returning"
² Hartmann: "perennial, misery you give to us all,"

Text Authorship:

• by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Memories of President Lincoln, in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, no. 1 [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 George Crumb (1929 - 2022), "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd", lines 1,3, from Apparition - Elegiac Songs and Vocalises, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000), "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd", 1986, first performed 1987 [ vocal duet with piano ], from Inscriptions, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905 - 1963), "Frühling", 1936 [ alto and orchestra ], from Symphony No. 1, Versuch eines Requiems, no. 2, revised 1955 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• by Roger Sessions (1896 - 1985), no title, from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 1
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• by William Harold Neidlinger (1863 - 1924), "Memories of President Lincoln", published 1920 [ baritone or tenor, piano ]
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• by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), no title [ baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra ], from cantata When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, no. 1
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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johannes Schlaf (1862 - 1941) ; composed by Johanna Müller-Hermann.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Quand les derniers lilas dans la petite cour fleurissaient", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-13
Line count: 6
Word count: 52