On a Sleeping Friend

Lady, when your lovely head 
Droops to sink among the Dead, 
And the quiet places keep 
You that so divinely sleep; 
Then the dead shall blessed be 
With a new solemnity, 
For such Beauty, so descending, 
Pledges them that Death is ending. 
Sleep your fill but when you wake 
Dawn shall over Lethe break.

by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) , "On a Sleeping Friend", from Sonnets and Verse (1923), published 1923

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

by (Edward) Maurice Besly (1888-1945) , "Dawn shall over Lethe break", published <<1940.
by Colin Macleod Campbell (1890-1953) , "Dawn shall over Lethe break", published 1925. [voice and piano]
by Chester Duncan (1913-) , "On a Sleeping Friend", 1974. [voice and piano]
by Richard Hageman (1882-1966) , "Dawn shall over Lethe break", published 1934. [voice and piano]
by Archie James Potter (1918-) , "Epigram on a Sleeping Friend", published 1952 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Three Songs of Hilaire Belloc, no. ?

Date added to the website: 2009-01-17.

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Classical Vocal Repertoire