A charm (Randolph, set by B. Britten) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


 Quiet! 
 Sleep! or I will make
 Erinnys whip thee with a snake,
 And cruel Rhadamanthus take
 Thy body to the boiling lake,
 Where fire and brimstones never slake;
 Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
 And ev'ry joint about thee quake;
 And therefor dare not yet to wake!
 Quiet, sleep!
 Quiet, sleep!
 Quiet!

 Quiet! 
 Sleep! or thou shalt see
 The horrid hags of Tartary,
 Whose tresses ugly serpants be,
 And Cerberus shall bark at thee,
 And all the Furies that are three
 The worst is called Tisiphone,
 Shall lash thee to eternity;
 And therefor sleep thou peacefully
 Quiet, sleep!
 Quiet, sleep!
 Quiet!

Input by Yvonne Helander

Authorship

Thomas Randolph (1605-1635)

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

(Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

A Charm of Lullabies

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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