Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's...

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!

by Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) , from Summer's Last Will and Testament, published 1600

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Dominick Argento (1927-) , "Spring", 1957, published 1970, from 6 Elizabethan Songs, no. 1.
by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) , "Spring, the sweet spring", op. 44 no. 3 (1949) [soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, mixed choir, boys' choir, orchestra], from Spring Symphony, no. 3.
by Frederick Delius (1862-1934) , "Spring, the sweet spring", 1915-6, published 1919 [voice and piano], from Four Old English Lyrics, no. 1.
by Bernard van Dieren (1887-1936) , "Spring", 1926, published 1927.
by Richard Bruce Faith (1926-) , "Spring, the sweet Spring"
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "Spring", from Five Elizabethan Songs (The Elizas), no. 5.
by Constant Lambert (1905-1951) , "Movement III. Coranto", from Summer's Last Will and Testament, no. 2.
by John Raynor (1909-1970) , "Spring", published 1951. [voice and piano]
by Peter Warlock (1894-1930) [pseudonym] , "Spring", 1922-3, published 1924, from Peterisms: second set, no. 2.

GER German (Julia Hamann)

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