Were my bosom as false as thou deem'st...

Were my bosom as false as thou deem'st it to be,
I need not have wander'd from far Galilee;
It was but abjuring my creed to efface
The curse which, thou say'st, is the crime of my race.

If the bad never triumph, then God is with thee!
If the slave only sin, thou art spotless and free!
If the Exile on earth is an Outcast on high,
Live on in thy faith, but in mine I will die.

I have lost for that faith more than thou canst bestow,
As the God who permits thee to prosper doth know;
In his hand is my heart and my hope - and in thine
The land and the life which for him I resign.

by George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) , "Were my bosom as false as thou deem'st it to be", from Hebrew Melodies, no. 17, published 1815

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

by Isaac Nathan (1790-1864) , "Were my bosom as false as thou deem'st it to be", published 1815 [voice and piano], from A Selection of Hebrew Melodies No. I, no. 17.

by M. Henle , "Wär ich wirklich so falsch", op. 4 no. 2, published 1897 [voice and piano], from Hebräische Gesänge nach jüdischen Melodien, no. 2.
by Johann Karl Gottfried Loewe (1796-1869) , "Wär' ich wirklich so falsch?", op. 4 (Hebräische Gesänge) no. 3 (1823).

by Karl Müller , "Wär' ich wirklich so falsch", op. 6 no. 7, published 1862 [high voice and piano quartet], from Hebräische Melodien, no. 7.

Date added to the website: 2004-07-05.

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