What comes?

Oh what comes over the sea,
  Shoals and quicksands past;
And what comes home to me,
  Sailing slow, sailing fast?

A wind comes over the sea
  With a moan in its blast;
But nothing comes home to me,
  Sailing slow, sailing fast.

Let me be, let me be,
  For my lot is cast:
Land or sea all's one to me,
  And sail it slow or fast.

by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) , "What comes?", from New Poems, published 1896, rev. 1904

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

by Winifred Bury , "Over the sea"
by Henry Clough-Leighter (1874-1956) , "What comes over the sea", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) , "Oh what comes over the sea", published 1904 [alto and piano], from Six Sorrow Songs, no. 1.
by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877-1946) , "Oh what comes over the sea", published <<1944. [SSAA a cappella]
by (James) Albert Mallinson (1870-1946) , "What comes?", published 1901.
by Martin Edward Fallas Shaw (1875-1958) , "Over the sea", published 1917. [voice and piano]
by Sir Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) , "O what comes over the sea", published 1901 [voice and piano], from Love in Springtime

Date added to the website: 2007-09-30.

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Classical Vocal Repertoire