by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Tell me where is Fancy bred
Language: English
Tell me where is Fancy bred, Or in the heart, or in the head? How begot, how nourishèd? Reply, reply. It is engender'd in the eyes, With gazing fed; and Fancy dies In the cradle where it lies. Let us all ring Fancy's knell: I'll begin it, - Ding, dong, bell.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, written 1596, appears in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 2 [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 Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "Tell me where", op. 9 no. ? (1953-6), published 1971, first performed 1970 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Shakespearean Madrigals, Set 1, Cincinnati : Canyon [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph W. Baber (b. 1937), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", op. 19 no. ? (1954-64), published 1976 [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespearean Songs, Lexington : Kelley ; note: not musically related to the madrigal in op. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Homer Newton Bartlett (1845 - 1920), "Tell me where is fancy bred", op. 241 (Two Songs with Piano Accompaniment) no. 2, published 1912 [ voice and piano ], G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Fancy", 1964 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mary Grant Carmichael (1851 - 1935), "Tell me where is fancy bred", published 1885 [ SA chorus (or vocal duet for soprano and alto) with piano ], from Six Songs for two voices, from Shakespeare (reissued as Six Shakespeare Songs), no. 1, London : J. Curwen & Sons [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Carr (1769 - 1831), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", published [1794] [ voice and piano ], from Four Ballads. Three from Shakespear and one by Harwood [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (1908 - 2012), "Tell me where is fancy bred" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Fancy" [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book I, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Barney Childs (1926 - 2000), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", 1958 [ soprano, tenor, clarinet, percussion, violin, viola, and piano ], from Septet for Voices (Soprano and Tenor) and Instruments, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eric Coates (1886 - 1957), "Tell me where is fancy bred", 1912 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John H. Corina (1928 - 2014), "Tell me where is fancy bred", 1975, first performed 1976 [ tenor or soprano and piano ], from Three Shakespeare Madrigals [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Crerar , "Fancy", 1952 [ high voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Faulkes , "Tell me where is fancy bred ", op. 204 no. 1 (1920) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard J. Felciano (b. 1930), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", 1954-5, published 1973, first performed 1955 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Madrigals from Wm Shakespeare, Boston : E. C. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hans Gál (1890 - 1987), "Tell me where is Fancy bred", op. 75 no. 3, published 1959, copyright © 1959 [ women's chorus ], from Songs of Youth, no. 3, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", op. 33 (1956 ) [ SSATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Steven R. Gerber (b. 1948), "Tell me where is fancy bred ", 1988 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Songs of William Shakespeare, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "Tell me where is Fancy bred", 2015, first performed 2016 [ counter-tenor and piano ], from O Mistress Mine -- 12 Songs for countertenor and piano on texts from plays by William Shakespeare, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Andrew Welch Imbrie (1921 - 2007), "Tell me where is Fancy bred", 1964 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sven Eric Emanuel Johanson (1919 - 1997), "Fancy", 1974, copyright © 1978 [ mixed chorus and piano ], from Fancies, no. 4, Stockholm : C. Gehrmans Musikförlag ; New York : Walton Music Corp. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Zoltán Kodály (1882 - 1967), "Fancy", 1959 [ women's chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Tell me, where is fancy bred", published 1908 [ high voice and piano ], from Liza Lehmann Album, no. 5, London : Chappell & Co. Ltd. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Matthew-Walker (b. 1939), "Tell me where is fancy bred?", op. 40 no. 5 (1980) [ voice and piano ], from Music to Hear (five Elizabethan Songs for soprano and piano), no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ann Sheppard Mounsey (1811 - 1891), "Tell me, where is fancy bred?" [ mixed chorus and piano ad libitum ], In: The Musical Times vom 1. April 1864, p.261-265; London: Novello & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Norman Houston O'Neill (1875 - 1934), "Tell me where is Fancy bred" [ voice, chorus, and orchestra ], from Shakespeare Songs, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Fancy", FP 174 (1959) [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "A casket song" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "Tell me where is fancy bred", 1946, published 1951 [ voice and piano ], London, Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Virgil Garnett Thomson (1896 - 1989), "Tell me where is fancy bred", 1956/7, published 1961 [ voice and piano ], from Five Shakespeare Songs, no. 3, New York, Southern [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Walton (1902 - 1983), "Tell me where is Fancy bred", 1916 [ vocal duet for soprano and tenor with 3 violins and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Edvard Lembcke (1815 - 1897) ; composed by Peter Arnold Heise.
- 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 Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Emmanuel Hiel (1834 - 1899) , "Langs waar komt het lustbegin", appears in Gedichten, in Twaalf liederen van Shakespere, no. 9, first published 1868 [an adaptation] ; composed by Petrus Leonardus Leopoldus "Peter" Benoit.
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Camille de Sainte-Croix (1859 - 1915) ; composed by Paul Vidal.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Ludwig (Wilhelm) Meyer (1759 - 1840) , no title ; composed by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Victor Hugo)
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dimmi dove nasce amore", copyright © 2009, (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: 9
Word count: 50
Dis‑moi où siège l'amour
Language: French (Français)  after the English
Dis-moi où siège l'amour : Dans le cœur, ou dans la tête ? Comment naît-il et se nourrit-il ? Réponds, réponds. Il est engendré dans les yeux, Se nourrit de regards, et meurt Dans le berceau où il repose. Sonnons tous le glas de l'amour. J'entonne. Ding, dong, vole !
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, written 1596, appears in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 2
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-05
Line count: 9
Word count: 47