Frederick Delius: Four Old English Lyrics (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;
Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,
Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The palm and may make country houses gay,
Lambs frisk and play, the [shepherds pipe]¹ all day,
And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!

The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,
Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,
In every street these tunes our ears do greet,
Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!
Spring! The sweet Spring!

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¹ Argento: "shepherd pipes"

Input by Ted Perry

2. So white, so soft, so sweet is she

Language: English

Authorship

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

The Devil's an Ass

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Have you seen but a [whyte]¹ Lilie grow
before rude hands had touch'd it;
Have you mark'd but the fall of the snow
before the [Earth]² hath smucht it.
Have you felt the wool of [Beaver]³,
Or Swansdown ever;
or have smelt of the Bud of the Bryer,
Or the Nard in the fire;
Or have tasted the Bag of the Bee;
O so whyte, O so soft, O so sweet, so sweet,
so sweet is she!
O so whyte, O so soft, O so sweet,
so sweet, so sweet is she!

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¹ Maconchy: "bright"
² Maconchy: "soil"
³ Maconchy: "the Beaver"

3. To Daffodils

Language: English

Authorship

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

FIN

Finnish

DUT

Dutch


Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong,
And, having pray'd together, we	
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die,
As your hours [do,]¹ and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain,
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

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¹ omitted by Farrar.

Input by Ted Perry

4. It was a lover and his lass

Language: English

Authorship

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

As You Like It

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

FIN

Finnish


It was a lover and his lass,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
That o'er the green [corn-field]¹ did pass.
  In [the]² spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

[Between the acres of the rye,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country [folks]³ would lie,
  In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring. ]⁴

[ ... ]

[And therefore take the present time]⁷
  [With]⁸ a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crownéd with the prime
  In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

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¹ Morley: "cornfields"
² omitted by Barton, Bush, and Morley, passim.
³ Delius, Dring: "folk"
⁴ not set by Morley. In Dring and Parry, only first and third lines survive.
⁵ sometimes "life"?
⁶ not set by Bush. In Dring and Parry, only first and third lines survive.
⁷ Barton, Morley : "Then, pretty lovers, take the time"
⁸ Bush: "And with"