by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Never seek to tell thy love
Language: English
Never seek to tell thy love Love that never told [can]1 be; For the gentle wind does move Silently, invisibly. I told my love, I told my love, I told her all my heart, [Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears]2 -- Ah, she [doth]3 depart. Soon as she was gone from me [A traveller came by]4 Silently, invisibly -- [He took her with a sigh]5.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Stöhr: "shall"
2 Stöhr: "Trembling between hope and fear"
3 Stöhr: "did"
4 Stöhr: "A boy chanced going by"
5 Leoni: "O, was no deny"
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Love's Secret" [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 Jean Mary Anderson (b. 1939), "Never seek to tell thy love", c1987, from Love's Whimsy, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Antheil (1900 - 1959), "I told my love", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell (b. 1917), "Never seek to tell thy love", op. 29 no. 2 (1943) [sung text not yet checked]
- by James David Audlin (b. 1954), "Never seek to tell thy love", 1978 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Nathaniel Baker, Jr. (b. 1931), "Never pain to tell thy love", c1966 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Love's secret", 1908, published 1909, from Three Blake Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alison Bauld (b. 1944), "Dear Emily", 1973 [ soprano and piano or harp ], note: the composer has added further text to the song that is not noted above [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jack Hamilton Beeson (b. 1921), "Never seek to tell thy love", 1945, from Three Blake Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gladys M. Bell , "Love's secret", published c1926 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916 - 1970), "Never Tell Thy Love", published c1953 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Allen Stephen Brings (b. 1934), "Never Seek to Tell Thy Love", 1954, rev. 1958, orchestrated 1959 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edward Joseph Dent (1876 - 1957), "Love's secret", 1897 [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Love's secret", 1953, published c1955 [ medium voice and piano ], NY : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Farwell (1872 - 1952), "Love's secret", op. 14 no. 2 (1903), published c1903 [ voice and piano ], Newton Center, MA : The Wa-Wan Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Falsehood", op. 125 no. 3 (1975), published 1976 [ SSAA chorus a cappella ], from Five Philanders, no. 3, London : Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard Sidney Garte (1923 - 1953), "Love's secret", c1946 [ voice and piano ], from Eight Songs of William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rosy Auguste Geiger Kullman (1886 - 1964), "Never seek to tell thy love" [ voice and piano ], from Five Old Love Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thom Ritter George (b. 1941), "Never seek to tell thy love", c1972 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Three Love Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arsenio Giron (b. 1932), "Never seek to tell thy love ", 1962 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Peter) Alexander Goehr (b. 1932), "Never seek to tell thy love ", op. 17 no. 1 (1964), published c1965 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Five Poems and an Epigram of William Blake, no. 1, London : Schott [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daron Aric Hagen (b. 1961), "Never pain to tell thy love", from Echo's songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Haines (b. 1956), "Never seek to tell thy love", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "Love's secret", op. 9 (Seven songs) no. 3 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Sinclair Hartley (b. 1927), "Love's secret", 1954, published c1958 [ soprano and piano ], from Two Songs after William Blake, no. 2, Naperville, IL, Fema Music Publications [sung text not yet checked]
- by Muriel Emily Herbert (1897 - 1984), "Love's secret", 1919 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Constance Mills Herreshoff , "Love's secret ", published c1929 [ medium voice and piano ], NY : J. Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Heussenstamm (b. 1926), "Never seek to tell thy love", published 1970 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], Cincinnati : Apogee Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Chester Edward Ide (1878 - 1944), "Love's secret", c1930 [ voice and piano ], from Four Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Arnold Jordahl (b. 1926), "Never seek to tell thy love", published c1980 [ SATB voices and piano ], Delaware Water Gap, PA : Shawnee Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Horace Keats (1895 - 1945), "Love's secret", published c1946 [ voice and piano ], London, Sydney : Chappell & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Bamford Lane (1933 - 2004), "Love's secret", 1965 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "Love's secret", op. 6 no. 1 (1965) [ alto or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Song Cyclette of Three Girls' Love Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Leibowitz (1913 - 1972), "Never seek to tell thy love", op. 71 no. 2 (1966), published c1976 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Two Settings after Poems by William Blake, no. 2, Hillsdale, NY, Boelke-Bomart, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nika Leoni , "Love’s Secret", 2023 [ high voice, clarinet, viola ], from Never Seek To Tell Thy Love, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Noreen I. Lindner , "Never seek to tell", c1963 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Michael Lombardo (b. 1932), "Never seek to tell thy love ", 1962 [ SATB chorus and clarinet ], from Two Lyric Poems, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Otto Luening (1900 - 1996), "Love's secret", 1949, published c1951, first performed 1964 [ high voice and piano ], New York, E. B. Marks Music Corp. (Belwin-Mills) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Philip James Martin (b. 1947), "Love's secret", 1969-71, first performed 1971 [ high voice and piano ], from Nine Songs for High Voice and Piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louise Matthews , "Love's secret ", c1969 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Thomas Moore, Jr. , "Love's secret ", c1976 [ baritone ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "Love's secret ", published 1972 [ medium voice and piano ], NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
- by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "Love's secret ", 1977 [ voice and harp ], from Two Songs, no. 1, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tage Nielsen (1929 - 2003), "Song", 1979, first performed 1979 [ soprano and vibraphone ], from 5 Poems by William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Nixon (1921 - 2009), "Love's secret ", published c1967 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], NY : Lawson-Gould (Cherry Lane Music) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Poul Rovsing Olsen (1922 - 1982), "Love's secret ", op. 7 no. 3, published 1947, first performed 1948 [ soprano and piano ], from Four Songs, no. 3, Copenhagen : Viking Musikforlag [sung text not yet checked]
- by Solomon Pimsleur (1900 - 1962), "Love's secret", op. 11 no. 3 (1922), rev. 1930, from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Wormald Pollitt (1879? - 1933), "Never seek to tell thy love", published c1912 [ SSA chorus and piano ], London: Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
- by Theodore P. Saunway (b. 1940), "Never pain to tell thy love ", c1976 [ baritone and piano ], from Four Songs on the Human Condition, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Peter Schickele (b. 1935), "Silently, invisibly", published c1974 [ SATB chorus and piano ], NY : American Book Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudolph Edward Schirmer (b. 1919), "Love's secret", published c1949 [ high voice and piano ], NY : G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nicolai Schneer , "Love's secret", op. 4 (c1921) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Masters van Someren-Godfery (d. 1947), "Love's secret ", published c1952 [ voice and piano ], from Six Blake Songs, no. 5, London : Augener [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Starer (1924 - 2001), "Never seek to tell thy love ", published c1962 [ TTBB chorus a cappella ], NY : Southern Music Publishing Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christopher Steel (b. 1939), "I told my love", 1971 [ baritone and piano ], from Piping Down the Valleys Wild, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Stöhr (1874 - 1967), "Love's Secret", op. 110 (Twelve Songs) no. 9 (1944-1945) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Louise Juliette Talma (1906 - 1996), "Never seek to tell thy love", 1934 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Wallace (1860 - 1940), "Love's secret ", published c1911 [ medium voice and piano ], from Three Songs, no. 2, London : Stainer & Bell [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ben Brian Weber (1916 - 1979), "Never seek to tell thy love ", op. 33 no. 2 (1951), published c1954, first performed 1952 [ baritone and chamber orchestra ], from Symphony on Poems of William Blake, no. 2, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
- by (John) Gerrard Williams (1888 - 1947), "Love's secret", 1920, published c1920 [ voice and piano ], London : J. Curwen [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luigi Zaninelli (b. 1932), "Never seek to tell thy love ", published c1963 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], Delaware Water Gap, PA : Shawnee Press (Flammer) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jacques-Louis Monod ; composed by René Leibowitz.
- 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.]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 68