by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Language: English
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)
Text 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]
- by Rudolf Bruči , no title, 1987 [ voice and piano ], from Love and Time [sung text not yet checked]
- 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]
- by Deryck Cooke , "Sonnet CXVI", 1944-5, from Ten Shakespeare Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
- 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]
- by Alfred Matthew Hale (1875 - 1960), "Sonnet 116" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "Sonnet 116", 1991 [ voice and piano ], from Sonnets and Soliloquies, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- 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]
- by Christopher James , "Shakespeare's Sonnet CXVI: Let me not to the marriage...", 1977 [ soprano and organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Björn Johansson , no title [ tenor and string quartet ], from ...notes of Music [sung text not yet checked]
- 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]
- by Rex Le Lacheur , "Love is not love", published 1974 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Three Shakespearian Trios [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Sonnet 116", 1960-80 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bryony Phillips , "Marriage of true minds", 1982, first performed 1983 [ soprano and violin ] [sung text not yet checked]
- 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]
- by David A. Roth , "Love's constancy", 1966 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Johan Selnes , "Sonnett" [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXVI", 1864 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Max Sofsky , "Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 - Let me not...", 1973 [ high voice unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gloria Swisher , "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Godfrey Winham , no title, 1957-60, published 1978, first performed 1961 [ soprano and piano ], from To prove my love, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Steffen Wolf (b. 1971), "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", 2008 [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lee Zarchen , "Shakespeare sonnet: no. 116", 1983 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Jan Vladislav ; composed by Jan Hanuš.
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , "Nichts kann den Bund zwei treuer Herzen hindern" ; composed by Anton Beer-Walbrunn.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Alfons Wolpert (1917 - 1978) ; composed by Franz Alfons Wolpert.
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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
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Sonett CXVI", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Mai non avvenga che io ponga impedimento", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 109