Bright star, would I were steadfast as...

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art -
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite

The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains, and the moors -

No - yet still steadfast, still unchangeable, 
PiIlow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake forever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever - or else swoon to death.

by John Keats (1795-1821) , no title, 1819?

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

by Frederick Shepherd Converse (1871-1940) , "Bright star", op. 14 (Three love songs) no. 3, published 1903. [baritone and piano]
by Michael G. Cunningham (1937-) , "Bright star", 1974, first performed 1977 [tenor and orchestra or piano], from Symphonic Arias -- Night, no. ?
by Quinto Maganini (1897-1974) , "Sonnet: Bright star", published 1934. [medium-high voice and piano]
by Jan Meyerowitz (1913-) , "Bright star", published 1964. [high voice and piano]
by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) , "Bright star", 1895-6, published 1896, from English Lyrics, set 4 no. 6
by Solomon Pimsleur (1900-1962) , "Bright star", 1927-8 [soprano, tenor, and string quartet or string orchestra], from Sonnet-Tableau, no. ?
by Betty Roe (1930-) , "His last sonnet", published 2001 [medium high voice and piano], from Three Dedications, no. 1.
by Christopher Shaw (1924-) , "Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art", first performed 1956. [tenor and clarinet]
by Roger Guy Steptoe (1953-) , "Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art", 1976, first performed 1978 [tenor and piano], from Five Songs for Tenor and Piano, no. ?
by Robert Still (1910-1971) , "Sonnet"
by Rudolph Werther (1896-?) , "His last sonnet" [voice and piano]

Date added to the website: 2004-05-02.

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