Song Cycle by Kenneth Leighton (1929-1988)

1. Fear no more the heat of the sun

Authorship

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene 2

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

FIN Finnish (Paavo Cajander)
ITA Italian (Ferdinando Albeggiani)

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
[As chimney-sweepers,]1 come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
[All]2 lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!

2.

Authorship

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from Sonnets, no. 18

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

ITA Italian (Ferdinando Albeggiani)
FIN Finnish (Erkki Pullinen)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
  So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
  So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

3. Sigh no more Ladies

Authorship

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

DUT Dutch (Pauline Kroger)

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever;
[ One foot in sea and one on shore;
To one thing constant never. ]1
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no more,
Of dumps so dull and heavy;
[ The fraud of men was ever so
Since summer first was leavy. ]1
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.

4. Come away, death

Authorship

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from Twelfth Night, Act II, scene 4

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland)

[Come away, come away, death]1,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
[O prepare it!]2
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown:
[A thousand, [thousand]3 sighs to save,]4
Lay me, O where
[Sad]3 true lover never find my grave,
[To weep there!]5

5. Under the greenwood tree

Authorship

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , no title, from As You Like It, Act II, Scene 5

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Available translations (or transliterations, if applicable):

GER German (Julia Hamann)

Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And [turn]1 [his]2 merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleas'd with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

If it do come to pass
That any man turn ass,
Leaving his wealth and ease,
A stubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame:
Here shall he see
Gross fools as he,
An if he will come to me.
Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me.

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