They bore him barefaced on the bier; Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny; And in his grave rain'd many a tear:-- [Fare you well, my dove!]1
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)These words are sung by Ophelia in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, but they are probably not by Shakespeare.
1 omitted by Castelnuovo-Tedesco.Text Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, no title, appears in Hamlet [author's text checked 1 time 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 Kim Borg (1919 - 2000), "They bore him barefaced on the bier ", op. 16 no. 3 (1974), published 1977, orchestrated 1981 [ soprano, flute, and viola ], from Ophelia Sings, no. 3, Copenhagen, Engstrøm & Sødring [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cheryl Frances-Hoad (b. 1980), "They bore him barefaced on the bier" [ voice and piano ], from Two Shakespeare Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "The bore him bare faced on the bier", copyright © 2005 [ soprano, harp and strings ], from Ophelia Songs, no. 5, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868 and sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864); composed by Richard Georg Strauss.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) , no title ; composed by Johannes Brahms.
- 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.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Ludwig Schröder (1744 - 1816) , no title, appears in Dramatische Werke, in Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark. Ein Trauerspiel in sechs Aufzügen. Nach Shakesspear [sic] ; composed by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg.
- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Krystyn Ostrowski (1811 - 1882) , no title ; composed by Stanisław Moniuszko.
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) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868
- GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger) , no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet
- GER German (Deutsch) (Friedrich Ludwig Schröder) , no title, appears in Dramatische Werke, in Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark. Ein Trauerspiel in sechs Aufzügen. Nach Shakesspear [sic]
- HEB Hebrew (עברית) (Hamutal Atariah) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POL Polish (Polski) (Krystyn Ostrowski) , no title
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-12-28
Line count: 4
Word count: 27
Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß,
Leider ach, leider, den Liebsten:
Manche Thräne fiel in des Grabes Schoß; -
Fahr' wohl, meine Taube!
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark, übersetzt von Karl Simrock, in: William Shakspear’s[sic] sämmtliche dramatische Werke in neuen Uebersetzungen, Leipzig: Georg Wigand’s Verlag, [no year], page 687
Note: according to The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss, ed. by Charles Youmans, Seeger is listed as the translator of Hamlet, but Seeger's translations are quite different. Simrock and Seeger are listed together as the translators for the ten-volume set.
Text Authorship:
- by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876), no title, appears in Shakespeare in deutscher Übersetzung, in 6. Hamlet, first published 1868 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- sometimes misattributed to Ludwig Wilhelm Friedrich Seeger (1810 - 1864)
Based on:
- a text in English by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title, appears in Hamlet and 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):
- [ None yet in the database ]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by Richard Georg Strauss (1864 - 1949), "Drittes Lied der Ophelia", op. 67 (Sechs Lieder), Heft 1 no. 3 (1918)
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2005-12-28
Line count: 4
Word count: 24