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Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridall of the earth and skie:
The dew shall weep thy fall to night;
For thou must die.
Sweet rose, whose hue angrie and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye:
Thy root is ever in its grave
And thou must die.
Sweet spring, full of sweet dayes and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My musick shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.
Onely a sweet and vertuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.
R. Vaughan Williams sets stanzas 1, 3-4
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by George Herbert (1593 - 1633), "Vertue", appears in The Temple, first published 1633 [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 James Whitton Aikman (b. 1959), "Vertue" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Barney Childs (1926 - 2000), "Virtue" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Matthew Emery (b. 1991), "Vertue" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Olivier Greif (1950 - 2000), "Vertue", op. 310 no. 6 (1995) [ voice and piano ], from Les chants de l'âme, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael (Dewar) Head (1900 - 1976), "Sweet day! so cool", 1919, published 1921 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jeffrey Thomas King , "Virtue", 1965 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ann Sheppard Mounsey (1811 - 1891), "Sweet day so cool", published 1860 [ satb chorus ], London : Pitman [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roxanna Panufnik (b. 1968), "Virtue", 1992 [ mezzo-soprano and string orchestra ], Peters Edition [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "Virtue" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Sweet Day", op. 615 (1962) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Adam Taylor (b. 1981), "Sweet day", op. 28 no. 1 (2003) [ SSAA chorus a cappella ], from Four Songs of Calm, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Sweet day", 1896, stanzas 1,3-4 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Vertu", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , "Die Seele", appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
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: 99
Doux jour ! si frais, si calme, si brillant, Le mariage de la terre et du ciel, La rosée pleurera ta chute ce soir ; Car tu dois mourir. Douce rose, dont la teinte de colère et de courage Ordonne au regard téméraire d'essuyer son œil : Ta racine est toujours, toujours dans la tombe, Et tu dois mourir. Doux printemps : plein de doux jours et roses, Une boîte où des bonbons gisent serrés, Ma musique montre que tu as ta fin Et tous doivent mourir. Seule une âme douce et vertueuse, Comme du bois sec, n'abandonne jamais ; Mais bien que le monde entier devienne du charbon, Alors surtout elle vit.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2010 by Guy Laffaille, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by George Herbert (1593 - 1633), "Vertue", appears in The Temple, first published 1633
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-01
Line count: 16
Word count: 108