by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
O were my Love yon lilac fair
Language: Scottish (Scots)
Available translation(s): SPA
O were my Love yon lilac fair, Wi' purple blossoms to the spring, And I a bird to shelter there, When wearied on my little wing; How I wad mourn when it was torn By autumn wild and winter rude! But I wad sing on wanton wing When youthfu' May its bloom renew'd. O gin my Love were yon red rose That grows upon the castle wa', And I mysel a drap o' dew, Into her bonnie breast to fa'; [O there, beyond expression blest, I'd feast on beauty a' the night; Seal'd on her silk-saft faulds to rest, Till fley'd awa' by Phoebus' light.]1
A. Beach sets stanza 2, 1
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Authorship:
- by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "O were my Love yon lilac fair" [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 Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867 - 1944), "Oh were my love yon lilac fair", op. 43 (Five Burns Songs) no. 3, published 1899, stanza 2,1 [ soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Frederick Brandeis (1835 - 1899), "O were my love yon lilac fair", op. 43 no. 1, published 1877 [ voice and piano ], from Four Songs, no. 1, New York: Martens Brothers, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "O were my love yon lilac fair", published 1922 [ male voice and piano ], from Scottish Lyrics, Book 2, no. 8, Bayley & Ferguson [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "O were my Love yon lilac fair", published 1889 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri-François-Louis-Auguste Potez (1863 - c1946) ; composed by André Gédalge, Pierre Nau.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adolf Wilhelm Ernst von Winterfeld (1824 - 1888) , "O, wär' mein Lieb die Fliederblüth'" ; composed by Otto Bach, Ernst Paul Flügel.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by L. G. Silbergleit , "O wär' mein Lieb" ; composed by Jan Karol Gall, Eugène Jámbor, Rudolf Krzyzanowski.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) , no title ; composed by Carl Banck, Frederick Brandeis, August Conradi, Wilhelm Heiser, Ludwig Hoffmann, Carl Hohfeld, Carl August Krebs, Arnold Krug, C. Adolph Oberdörffer, Hans Michael Schletterer, Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by (Johann) Philipp Kaufmann (1802 - 1846) , no title, appears in Gedichte von Robert Burns, first published 1839 [an adaptation] ; composed by Franz Bendel, Alban Maria Johannes Berg, Wilhelm Mayer.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Johann Bernhard André.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Kéž byla bys ten vonný bez"
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (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: 105