×
Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation © by Pauline Kroger
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more
Language: English
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever; [ One foot in sea and one on shore; To one thing constant never. ]1 Then sigh not so, But let them go, And be you blithe and bonny; Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny. Sing no more ditties, sing no more, Of dumps so dull and heavy; [ The fraud of men was ever so Since summer first was leavy. ]1 Then sigh not so, But let them go, And be you blithe and bonny; Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Lines reversed in version set by Fisher
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3 [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 David Werner Amram (b. 1930), "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more", published 1972 [ tenor and piano or orchestra ], from Five Shakespeare Songs, no. 5, New York, Peters [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778), "Sigh no more, ladies" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "Sigh no more, ladies", op. 9 no. ? (1953-6) [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Shakespearean Madrigals, Set 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Sigh no more", 2011 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "Sigh no more, ladies" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sigh no more, ladies", 1922, published 1924 [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book IV, no. 1, London : Chester [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Whitefield Chadwick (1854 - 1931), "Inconstancy", 1910, published 1910, copyright © 1910 [ ssaa chorus and piano ], Boston, Schmidt [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eric Coates (1886 - 1957), "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Edward Dearle , "Sigh no more ladies", <<1892 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], glee [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927), "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more", 1960, published 1962, first performed 1960 [ SATB chorus and piano ], from Three Madrigals, NY : Boosey [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Arms Fisher (1861 - 1948), "Sigh no more, ladies", op. 5 no. 5, published 1897 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Stanley Fletcher , "Sigh no more, ladies", 1950, first performed 1950 [ baritone and piano ], from A Shakespeare Triad [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "Sigh no more, ladies", published 1913 [ SSA chorus or vocal trio for 2 sopranos and alto with piano ], Boston : Schmidt [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Sigh no more, ladies", op. 224 no. 5 (1996 ) [ SATB chorus and piano duet ], from Waltzsongs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "Sigh no more, ladies" [ vocal duet with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "Sigh no more, ladies" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "Be you blithe and bonny" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "Sigh no more, ladies" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kenneth Leighton (1929 - 1988), "Sigh no more Ladies", from 5 Shakespeare Songs, no. 3, available from the Kenneth Leighton Trust, e-mail jo (DOT) leighton (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co (DOT) uk [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "Sigh no more, ladies", R. 54 no. 5 (1930?), published 1933 [ chorus ], from Songs of Springtime, no. 5, Novello [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mary Plumstead (1905 - 1980), "Sigh no more, ladies" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Sigh no more, ladies", op. 30 no. 4 (1933), published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs (Third Set), no. 4, London, Boosey [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Betty Roe (b. 1930), "Sigh no more", published 1974 [ medium voice, flute, and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Andrew Schneider (b. 1991), "Sigh no more, ladies" [ ttb chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Donna Gartman Schultz (b. 1948), "Sigh no more, ladies" [ chorus a cappella ], from Two Shakespeare Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Sigh no more, ladies", 1895-6 [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Zane Randall Stroope (b. 1953), "Sigh no more, ladies", published 2005 [ voice and piano ], from Love's waning seasons, no. 5, Colla Voce [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arthur Sullivan, Sir (1842 - 1900), "Sigh no more, ladies", published 1866 [ voice and piano ], from 5 Shakespeare Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Virgil Garnett Thomson (1896 - 1989), "Sigh no more, ladies", 1957, published 1961 [ voice and piano ], from Five Shakespeare Songs, no. 5, New York, Southern [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The conspiracy" [ SATB chorus ], from cantata In Windsor Forest, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Sigh no more, ladies", 1927, published 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Emmanuel Hiel (1834 - 1899) , "O, meisjes, zucht niet ach en wee", appears in Gedichten, in Twaalf liederen van Shakespere, no. 4, first published 1868 ; composed by Petrus Leonardus Leopoldus "Peter" Benoit.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jules Ruelle (1834 - 1892) ; composed by Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pauline Kroger) , "De samenzwering", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot)
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Carlo Rusconi) , first published 1859
- POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Śpiew Baltazara", first published 1907
Researcher for this text: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 101
De samenzwering
Language: Dutch (Nederlands) after the English
Zucht niet meer, dames, dames, zucht niet meer, Mannen bedriegen van oudsher, één voet in zee enéén op het land, Ze zijn zo constant als een dwaalster. Zucht niet zo zwaar, vergeet ze nu maar, Wees liever blij en vrolijk, Zet al je treurgeluiden om in Hé, hé, nonny nonny nonny nonny. Zing nu geen klaagzang, zing die niet meer, Niet meer zangen, zo somber en zwaar, Mannen belazerden altijd de kluit Zo lang als de zomers zijn daar. Zucht niet zo zwaar, vergeet ze nu maar, Wees liever blij en vrolijk, Zet al je treurgeluiden om in Hé, hé, nonny nonny nonny nonny.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to Dutch (Nederlands) copyright © 2009 by Pauline Kroger, (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.
Pauline Kroger. Contact: Paulinekroger (AT) cs (DOT) com
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3
This text was added to the website: 2009-11-16
Line count: 18
Word count: 104