I thought once how Theocritus had sung

I thought once how Theocritus had sung
Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,
Who each one in a gracious hand appears
To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:
And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,
I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,
The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,
Those of my own life, who by turns had flung
A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,
So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move
Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;
And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, -
"Guess now who holds thee!" - "Death," I said,
But, there, the silver answer rang, "Not death, but Love."

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) , no title, from Poems, in Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 1, published 1856

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

by Gena Branscombe (1881-1977) , "I thought once how Theocritus had sung", published 1907 [medium voice and piano], from Love in a Life, no. 1.
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) , "The sweet sad years", published 1928 [medium voice and piano], from Three Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. ?
by Leon Dallin (1918-) , "I thought once", 1953 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Three Songs from the Portuguese, no. ?
by Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942) , "I thought once how Theocritus had sung", published 1907 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. 1.
by (Charles) Alfred de Kaiser (1872-1917) , "Not Death, but Love", published 1912 [soprano, tenor, and piano], from Seven Sonnets from the Portuguese, no. ?

by Egon Joseph Wellesz (1885-1974) , "Und es geschah mir einst, an Theokrit zu denken", published 1935 [soprano and string quartet], from Sonette der Elisabeth Barret-Browning [sic], no. ?

Date added to the website: 2007-12-13.

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