by John Donne (1572 - 1631)
Go and catch a falling star
Language: English
Available translation(s): ITA
Go and catch a falling star, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, Or who cleft the devil's foot, Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy's stinging, And find What wind Serves to advance an honest mind. If thou be'st born to strange sights, Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee, Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear, No where Lives a woman true and fair. If thou find'st one, let me know, Such a pilgrimage were sweet; Yet do not, I would not go, Though at next door we might meet, Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter, Yet she Will be False, ere I come, to two, or three.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by John Donne (1572 - 1631), "Go and catch a falling star" [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 Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Go and catch a falling star", published 1961. [text not verified]
- by Colin Brumby (b. 1933), "Go and catch a falling star", published 1979, from The English Songs [text not verified]
- by David Vassall Cox (1916 - 1997), "Go and catch a falling star", 1959, published 1962 [tenor and piano], from The Humours of Love [text not verified]
- by William Flanagan (1923 - 1969), "Go and catch a falling star", published 1949. [high voice and piano] [text not verified]
- by Philippe Hersant (b. 1948), "Falling star", 2005 [vocal octet and viola da gamba], Éditions Durand ; Hersant's catalog of works indicates the text of this setting is also based on a poem by Henry King [text not verified]
- by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "Go and catch a falling star" [tenor and piano] [text not verified]
- by Bernard George Stevens (1916 - 1983), "Go and catch a falling star", published 1948, from Three Songs: The Words by John Donne [text not verified]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title 1: "Va', e cattura una stella cadente", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-12-07
Line count: 27
Word count: 147