Sonnet 116 | Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Language: English

Available translation(s): GER ITA

Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
Admit impediments. Love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove: 
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
It is the star to every wandering bark, 
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come: 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
    If this be error and upon me proved, 
    I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 116 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Sonnet 116", 1983 [medium-high voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
by Herbert Bielawa (b. 1930), "For a wedding", 1975 [tenor or soprano and pipe organ] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Rudolf Bruči , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", 1987 [voice and piano], from Love and Time [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet CXVI - Let me not to the marriage", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 22 (1944-5) [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Deryck Cooke , "Sonnet CXVI", 1944-5, from Ten Shakespeare Sonnets [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Jean Coulthard (1908 - 2000), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments", 1947, first performed 1970, from Three Shakespeare Sonnets [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "Sonnet 116" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "Sonnet 116", 1991 [voice and piano], from Sonnets and Soliloquies, no. 2 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by William Michael Huebner and by Richard D. Lake , "The marriage of true minds", 1969 [three-part chorus, trio, harpsichord, guitar] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Christopher James , "Shakespeare's Sonnet CXVI: Let me not to the marriage...", 1977 [soprano and organ] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Björn Johansson , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" [tenor and string quartet], from ...notes of Music [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Leslie Kondorossy (1915 - 1989), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", op. 138 no. ?, from Five Shakespeare Sonnets [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Rex Le Lacheur , "Love is not love", published 1974 [SSA chorus and piano], from Three Shakespearian Trios [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Sonnet 116", 1960-80 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Bryony Phillips , "Marriage of true minds", 1982, first performed 1983 [soprano and violin] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Solomon Pimsleur (1900 - 1962), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", op. 100 no. ? [SATB chorus and orchestra], from Shakespearean sonnet cycle [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by David A. Roth , "Love's constancy", 1966 [high voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Johan Selnes , "Sonnett" [satb chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXVI", 1864 [medium voice or high voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Max Sofsky , "Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 - Let me not...", 1973 [high voice unaccompanied] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Gloria Swisher , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Godfrey Winham , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", 1957-60, published 1978, first performed 1961 [soprano and piano], from To prove my love, no. 3 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Lee Zarchen , "Shakespeare sonnet: no. 116", 1983 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Jan Vladislav FRE GER GER ITA ; composed by Jan Hanuš.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , "Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern" FRE ITA ; composed by Anton Beer-Walbrunn.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Alfons Wolpert (1917 - 1978) FRE ITA ; composed by Franz Alfons Wolpert.

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

FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 116, first published 1857

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 109