To Spring | O Thou with dewy locks, who lookest down

O Thou with dewy locks, who lookest down

Language: English

Our translations: GER RUS

O Thou with dewy locks, who lookest down
Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring! 

The hills tell each other, and the list'ning
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turned
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth,
And let thy holy feet visit our clime.

Come o'er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumed garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our love-sick land that mourns for thee.

O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languish'd head,
Whose modest tresses were bound up for thee.

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Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "To Spring" [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 William Henry Bell (1873 - 1946), "Spring", 1940, from Twelve Blake Songs, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Harold Blumenfeld (b. 1923), "To Spring", 1972-3 [ double mixed chorus, with mezzo-soprano and tenor soli, and orchestra ], from Songs of Innocence, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Caspar J. Diethelm (b. 1926), "To Spring", op. 153 no. 1 (1977) [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from 5 Madrigale, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Christopher Montague Edmunds (1899 - 1990), "O Thou with dewy locks", published 1929 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London: Ashdown [sung text not yet checked]
by (Charles William) Eric Fogg (1903 - 1939), "Spring", published 1931 [ chorus and orchestra ], from The Seasons, no. 1, London : Elkin & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "To Spring", first performed 1967 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Six Part-Songs [formerly: Four Part-Songs], no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Antony Garlick (b. 1927), "To Spring", published 1971 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Twelve Madrigals, no. 7, NY : Seesaw Music Press [sung text not yet checked]
by John Pierre Herman Joubert (1927 - 2019), "To Spring", op. 26 no. 2, published c1960 [ tenor and piano ], from Two Invocations for Tenor and Piano, no. 2, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
by Christopher Kaye Le Fleming (b. 1908), "To Spring", op. 5 no. 1, published c1933 [ soprano, alto, unison chorus, 2-part chorus, piano, and strings ], from The Echoing Green , no. 1, London : J. W. Chester (Marks) [sung text not yet checked]
by Sven Lekberg (1899 - 1984), "Come o'er the Eastern Hills", published c1971 [ four-part mixed chorus a cappella ], New York, G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
by Laurence Powell (1899 - 1990), "To Spring", op. 12 no. 1, published 1928 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from The Seasons, no. 1, London: J. Williams [sung text not yet checked]
by Laurence Powell (1899 - 1990), "To Spring", published c1922 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], London : J. Williams [sung text not yet checked]
by William Rea (1827 - 1903), "To Spring", published 1893 [ SATB chorus and orchestra or piano ], London : C. Woolhouse [sung text not yet checked]
by Godfrey Ridout (1918 - 1984), "Spring ", 1979-80 [ tenor and piano quintet ], from The Seasons, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "To Spring", op. 28 no. 1, published 1979, first performed 1980 [ voice, flute, viola, and harp ], from The Seasons, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ben Brian Weber (1916 - 1979), "To Spring", op. 33 no. 4 (1951), published c1954, first performed 1952 [ baritone and chamber orchestra ], from Symphony on Poems of William Blake, no. 4, NY : American Composers Alliance [sung text not yet checked]
by Norma Ruth Wendelburg (b. 1918), "To Spring ", 1953 [ voice and piano ], from Three Songs from William Blake, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by John David White (b. 1931), "To Spring ", first performed 1970 [ baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra ], from Cantos of the Year, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by William Wolstenholme (1865 - 1931), "Ode to Spring", published 1913 [ SSAA chorus a cappella ], Boston : Arthur P. Schmidt, in Women's Voices, no. 542 [sung text not yet checked]
by William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908 - 1988), "To Spring", op. 33 no. 1, published 1948 [ medium voice and string trio ], from The Four Seasons, no. 1, London : A. Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Jaru"
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "К Весне", first published 1979, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 127