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When cats run home and light is come And dew is cold upon the ground, And the far-off stream is dumb, And the whirring sail goes round; Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits. When merry milkmaids click the latch, And rarely smells the new-mown hay, And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch Twice or thrice his round-e-lay; Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits.
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Authorship
- by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "Song -- The owl", appears in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, first published 1830 [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 Herbert Kennedy Andrews (1904 - 1965), "When cats run home", published 1945 [high voice and piano], from Two Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Johan Backer-Lunde (1874 - 1958), "The owl", op. 42 no. 2 [voice and orchestra] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Seymour Barab (1921 - 2014), "The owl", copyright © 1979 [soprano or tenor, recorder, and guitar], from Bagatelles, no. 7, New York : Galaxy Music [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936 - 2012), "The owl", published 1966 [voice or unison chorus and piano], from The Aviary, no. 2 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by William Richard Bexfield (1824 - 1853), "The owl", published 1881 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865 - 1928), "When cats run home", published 1927 [SS chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "The owl", 1985, first performed 1985 [baritone and piano], from Three Bird Songs, no. 1 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Ernest Bullock, Sir (1890 - 1979), "When cats run home", published 1961 [SS chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "The owl", published 1962 [SAB chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Frank Chapple , "The owl", published 1928 [SS chorus or SA chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "The owl", 1909? [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Arnold Atkinson Cooke (1906 - 2005), "The owl", 1956, published 1963 [soprano or tenor, horn, and piano], from Nocturnes, no. 4 [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877 - 1946), "The owl", published 1915 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Theodora Dutton , "To the owl", published <<1940 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Christopher Montague Edmunds (1899 - 1990), "The owl", published 1930 [SS chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Nicolas Flagello (b. 1928), "The owl", published 1964 [bass-baritone and chamber orchestra or piano], from The Land [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Percival Garratt (1877 - 1953), "The owl", published 1923 [2-part chorus of medium-high voices and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by R. A. Gatty , "The owl", published 1869 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert (1868 - 1928), "The owl", published 1910 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Joseph Groocock , "The owl", published c1953 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Marjorie Helyer , "When cats run home", published 1957 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Francis Alan Jackson (b. 1917), "The owl", published 1949 [SSA chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob (1895 - 1984), "When cats run home", published 1938 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Roger Parks Jones (b. 1944), "The white owl" [SATB chorus and instrumental ensemble] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Louis Lavater (1867 - 1953), "The white owl", published 1933 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Cuthbert Edward Osmond (1904 - 1937), "The owl", published 1948 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "The owl", published 1909 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Montague Fawcett Phillips (1885 - 1969), "The owl", published 1939 [SS chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Henry Hugo Pierson (1816 - 1873), "The white owl", published 1875 [voice and piano], also set in German (Deutsch) [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur John Pritchard , "When cats run home", published 1947 [TTBB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Daniel Protheroe (1866 - 1934), "The owl", published 1917 [voices and piano], from Fifth Year Music [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by J. W. Sidebotham , "The owl", published <<1892 [chorus] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Edward Silas (1827 - 1909), "The owl", published 1867 [SATB chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Harold Hinchcliffe Sykes , "The owl", published 1966 [unison chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Eric Harding Thiman (1900 - 1975), "When cats run home", published 1930 [2-part chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Vally Weigl, née Pick (c1894 - 1982), "The owl", published 1962-3 [medium voice and piano], from Songs for a child [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karoline (or Caroline) Wilhelmine Leonhardt (1811 - 1899) ; composed by Henry Hugo Pierson.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die weiße Uhl", copyright © 2007, (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: 12
Word count: 78
Die Katz' eilt heim, der Morgen steigt, und Tau liegt kühl auf Flur und Grund, und der ferne Strom noch schweigt, und die Windmühl' wirbelt rund; alleine sitzt die weiße Uhl und wärmt die Sinn' im Glockenstuhl. Die Milchmagd klappert mit dem Tor, und köstlich riecht das frische Heu, unterm Strohdach kräht der Hahn hervor sein Kikeriki aufs neu; alleine sitzt die weiße Uhl und wärmt die Sinn' im Glockenstuhl.
Authorship
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2007 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
- a text in English by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), "Song -- The owl", appears in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, first published 1830
This text was added to the website: 2007-02-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 70