The worldly hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes, or it prospers; and anon
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty face,
Lighting a little hour or two -- is gone.

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Text Authorship:

• by Edward Fitzgerald (1809 - 1883), no title, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, First Edition, no. 14, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Second Edition, no. 17, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Third Edition, no. 16, appears in The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Fourth Edition, no. 16, first published 1859 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in Persian (Farsi) by Hakim Omar Khayyám (c1048 - c1122) [text unavailable]
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "The worldly hope men set their Hearts upon", published 1906 [ soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from Omar Khayyám, Part I, no. 16, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Michael Richard Miller (b. 1932), "The worldly hope", 1975-7 [ mixed chorus, baritone, soprano, 4 percussion, timpani, piano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, viola, and violoncello ], from Verses from the Tentmaker, no. 8, cantata  [sung text not yet checked]
• by Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940 - 2022), "The wordly hope", 1963 [ soprano and oboe ], from Twelve Quatrains from the Rubaiyat, Song cycle for soprano and oboe, American Composers Alliance Inc. (BMI) [sung text not yet checked]

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

• by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "The worldly hope men set their Hearts upon", 1896 [ contralto solo ], from In a Persian Garden, no. 16
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• by Henry Houseley (1852? - 1925), "Part 2", published 1917 [ soli, chorus, orchestra ], from cantata Omar Khayyám, no. 2, New York : H. W. Gray
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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Francisco Mignone.
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Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller

This text was added to the website: 2006-04-08
Line count: 4
Word count: 30