Charm me asleep, and melt me so
With thy delicious numbers,
That, being ravish'd, hence I go
Away in easy slumbers.
Ease my sick head,
And make my bed,
Thou power that canst sever
From me this ill,
And quickly still,
Though thou not kill
My fever.

Thou sweetly canst convert the same
From a consuming fire
Into a gentle licking flame,
And make it thus expire.
Then make me weep
My pains asleep;
And give me such reposes
That I, poor I,
May think thereby
I live and die
'Mongst roses.

Fall on me like [a]1 silent dew,
Or like those maiden showers
Which, by the peep of day, do strew
A baptism o'er the flowers
Melt, melt my [pains]2
With thy soft strains;
That, having ease me given,
With full delight
I leave this light,
And take my flight
[For]3 Heaven.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Ewazen, Hindemith: "the"
² Ewazen: "pain"
³ Gideon, Hindemith: "To"

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To Music, to becalm his fever" [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 Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "To musique, to becalme his fever", 194-?, published 1952 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quiet Airs, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Leslie R. Bassett (b. 1923), "To music", published c1966, from To Music, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "To music, to becalm his fever", op. 25 no. 3, published 2011, from Folksongs from another World, no. 3, voice and piano [sung text not yet checked]
• by Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (1908 - 2012), "To Music" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Andre Douw (b. 1951), "To music, to becalm his fever", 1983, from Herrick Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977), "To music - to becalm a sweetsick youth" [ voice and piano ], from Dedications: 5 Poems by Robert Herrick, no. 4, confirmed with a score [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "To Music", 1935 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Eric Ewazen (b. 1954), "To Music, to becalm his Fever", 1991 [ voice and guitar or piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Herbert Foulds (1880 - 1939), "To music", op. 86 no. 3 [ voice and piano ], from Garland of Youth, no. 3, incomplete [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "To Music, to becalm his fever", op. 49 no. 8, published 1961 [ tenor, chorus, and orchestra ], from cantata Herrick Cantata, no. 8, Boston : E. C. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Miriam Gideon (1906 - 1996), "To Music", 1957 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "To Music for Calm", 1921-1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "To Music, to becalm his Fever", 1944, published 1944 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Nine English Songs, no. 8, London: Schott; New York: Associated Music Publishers [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Robin Holloway (b. 1943), "Charm me asleep", op. 38 no. 1a (1977) [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from The Consolation of Music, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Brian Holmes (b. 1946), "To Musique, to becalme his Fever" [ tenor, orchestra ], from The Trumpet and other Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "Charm me asleep", alternate title: "To music" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "To Music, to becalm his Fever", published 1952, from Flight For Heaven, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wilfred Sanderson (1878 - 1935), "To Music, to becalm his fever - charm me asleep" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by David Sisco , "To music", 2004 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Upon Love, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "To Music", op. 138 (Six Songs for Two Sopranos) no. 2, published 1914 [ vocal duet for soprano and alto with piano ], London: J. Curwen & Sons Ltd. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "To Music, to becalm his fever", published 1881 [ voice and piano ], London: Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co. [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ernst Hermann Meyer.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 33
Word count: 146