by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674)
How roses came red
Language: English
Roses at first were white Till they could not agree, Whether my Sappho's breast Or they more white should be. But, being vanquish'd quite, A blush their cheeks bespread; Since which, believe the rest, The roses first came red.
Text Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674) [author's text not yet checked 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 Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "How roses came red", op. 10 (Fourteen songs) no. 11 (1912) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Andy Vores (b. 1956), "How roses came red", from Household Tales, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]
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: 39