Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat...

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have lie portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes,
Within a dream.

by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) , "Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam", from Verses, published 1896

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

by Frederick Delius (1862-1934) , "Vitae summa", 1906-7, published 1911 [mezzo-soprano and baritone soli, chorus, and orchestra], from Songs of Sunset, no. 8.
by Cecil Forsyth (1870-1941) , "Within a dream", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990) , "They are not long", <<1932 [voice and piano], unpublished
by Pamela Harrison (1915-) , "Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam" [tenor and string orchestra], from Five Poems of Ernest Dowson, no. ?
by Edward Burlingame Hill (1872-1960) , "They are not long", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Robert William Jones (1932-) , "Envoy", from Two Songs
by Barbara Pentland (1912-) , "They are not long", 1935. [voice and piano]
by Paul Amadeus Pisk (1893-) , "Envoy", 1938-9 [voice and piano], note: text incorrectly attributed to C. G. Rossetti
by Roger Quilter (1877-1953) , "Passing dreams", op. 10 no. 2, published 1908 [voice and piano], from Songs of Sorrow, no. 2.
by Cyril Meir Scott (1879-1970) , "Meditation", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Howard Wells , "They are not long", published 1960. [voice and piano]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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