Love's secret

Never [seek]1 to tell thy love 
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears --
Ah, she doth depart.

Soon as she was gone from me
A traveller came by
Silently, invisibly --
[He took her with a sigh.]2

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "Love's secret", 1863

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

by Jean Mary Anderson (1939-) , "Never seek to tell thy love", c1987, from Love's Whimsy, no. 2.
by George Antheil (1900-1959) , "I told my love", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 6.
by Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell (1917-) , "Never seek to tell thy love", op. 29 no. 2 (1943).
by James David Audlin (1954-) , "Never seek to tell thy love", 1978.
by Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (1868-1946) , "Love's secret", 1908, published 1909, from Three Blake Songs, no. 1.
by Jack Hamilton Beeson (1921-) , "Never seek to tell thy love", 1945, from Three Blake Songs, no. 2.
by (Robert) Houston Bright (1916-1970) , "Never Tell Thy Love", published c1953. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Allen Stephen Brings (1934-) , "Never Seek to Tell Thy Love", 1954, rev. 1958, orchestrated 1959.
by Daron Aric Hagen (1961-) , "Never pain to tell thy love", from Echo's songs, no. 1.
by David Haines (1956-) , "Never seek to tell thy love", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [high voice and piano], from Songs of Experience, no. 5.
by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874-1949) , "Love's secret", op. 9 (Seven songs) no. 3 (1912). [voice and piano]
by Walter Sinclair Hartley (1927-) , "Love's secret", 1954, published c1958 [soprano and piano], from Two Songs after William Blake, no. 2, Naperville, IL, Fema Music Publications
by Leonard Jordan Lehrman (1949-) , "Love's secret", op. 6 no. 1 (1965) [alto or mezzo-soprano and piano], from Song Cyclette of Three Girls' Love Songs, no. 1.
by René Leibowitz (1913-1972) , "Never seek to tell thy love", op. 71 no. 2 (1966), published c1976 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Two Settings after Poems by William Blake, no. 2, Hillsdale, NY, Boelke-Bomart, also set in French
by Otto Luening (1900-1996) , "Love's secret", 1949, published c1951, first performed 1964 [high voice and piano], New York, E. B. Marks Music Corp. (Belwin-Mills)
by Louise Juliette Talma (1906-1996) , "Never seek to tell thy love", 1934.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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