If thou must love me, let it be for...

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,-- and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 14, published 1850

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

by Frederic Balazs (1920-) , "If thou must love me, let it be for nought", published 1960 [high voice and string quartet or chamber orchestra], from Sonnets after Elizabeth Barrett Browning, no. ?
by William Henry Bell (1873-1946) , "If thou must love me" [voice and piano], from Three songs: words from "Sonnets from the Portuguese", no. ?
by Louis Cheslock (1898-1981) , "If thou must love me, let it be for nought" [mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano]
by William Arms Fisher (1861-1948) , "For love's sake only", published 1897 [high voice and piano], from Five songs, no. ?
by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "If thou must love me", published 1910 [medium voice and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 14.
by Mrs. Arthur Goodeve , "If thou must love me" [low voice and piano]
by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874-1949) , "If thou must love me", op. 116 (Three Sonnets) no. 1 (1935). [voice and piano]
by Joseph M. Hopkins , "If thou must love me"
by Frederick Piket (1903-1974) , "If thou must love me", published 1957. [fourt part mixed chorus a cappella]
by Carlos Surinach (1915-) , "If thou must love me", published 1966 [voice and piano], from Flamenco Meditations, no. ?

GER German (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Date added to the website: 2007-12-07.

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