Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
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Text Authorship:
- by Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), "Nothing gold can stay", appears in New Hampshire, first published 1923 [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 William Thayer Ames (1901 - 1987), "Nothing gold can stay", published 1944 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cecil William Bentz (b. 1915), "Nothing gold can stay" [ chorus ], from Two Short Poems by Robert Frost [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alva Henderson (b. 1940), "Nothing gold", 1968, first performed 1970, from A Seasonal Songbook, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Musto (b. 1954), "Nothing gold can stay", from Two by Frost, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "Nothing gold can stay" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Rick Sowash (b. 1950), "Nothing gold can stay", 1973 [ STB chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rick Sowash (b. 1950), "Nothing gold can stay", 1973 [ mezzo-soprano, unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pasquale J. Spino (b. 1942), "Nothing gold can stay", published 1971 [ satb chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:
- by Kate Soper (b. 1943), "So dawn chromatically descends to day", 2018 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a concert programme booklet
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 40