sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) and by Richard Barnfield (1574 - 1627)
If music and sweet poetry agree
Language: English
If music and sweet poetry agree, As they must needs, the sister and the brother, Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me, Because thou lovest the one, and I the other. Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense; Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As, passing all conceit, needs no defence. Thou lovest to hear the sweet melodious sound That Phoebus' lute, the queen of music, makes; And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd When as himself to singing he betakes. One god is god of both, as poets feign; One knight loves both, and both in thee remain.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
- by Richard Barnfield (1574 - 1627), no title, appears in The Passionate Pilgrim, no. 8, first published 1599 [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 Adolf Wallnöfer (1854 - 1946), "Passionate Pilgrim. VIII", op. 78 no. 2, published 1904 [ tenor and piano ], from 5 Sonnette von William Shakespeare, no. 2, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) , no title ; composed by Adolf Wallnöfer.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 113