Or I shall live your epitaph to make

Or I shall live your epitaph to make,
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten;
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read,
And tongues to be your being shall rehearse
When all the breathers of this world are dead;
  You still shall live--such virtue hath my pen--
  Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.

by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , from Sonnets, no. 81

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

by Elena Olegovna Firsova (1950-) , "Or I shall live your epitaph to make", op. 25 no. 1, published 1981, first performed 1986 [voice and organ], from Shakespeare's Sonnets, no. 1.
by Elena Olegovna Firsova (1950-) , "Or I shall live your epitaph to make", op. 25a no. 1, published 1988 [voice and saxophone quartet], from Shakespeare's Sonnets, no. 1.

by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (1904-1987) , "Tebe l' menja pridjotsja khoronit'", op. 52 no. 1 (1953-5), from Desjat' sonetov Shekspira, no. 1.

RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)
ITA Italian (Ferdinando Albeggiani)

Date added to the website: 2003-11-04.

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Sonet 81

Tebe li ja slozhu nadgrobnyj stikh,
Il' sam skorej sgniju v syroj mogile,
No budesh' ty vsegda sredi zhivykh,
A ja sojdu v zabven'ja kraj unylyj.
Moi stikhi tvoj obraz sokhranjat,
A ja umru, – ne vspomnjat dazhe imja;
Moju mogilu gody sokrushat,
Tvojej  –  veka stojat' nekolebimo.
Tvoj pamjatnik – v moikh prostykh stikhakh,
Chto vnuki nashikh vnukov prochitajut,
Ty budesh' zhit' v daljokikh golosakh,
Kogda druz'ja poslednie istajut.
    Ty ne umrjosh' – takov moj gordyj stikh –
    Kak  dukh, vitaja na ustakh zhivykh.

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Note on Transliteration

Singable translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "Sonet 81", 1981, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) , from Sonnets, no. 81 ITA

Date added to the website: 2008-01-20.