Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy [springs]1 a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) , no title, from A Shropshire Lad, no. 2, 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 Robert M. Abramson (1928-) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1960. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by David Arditti (1964-) , "Loveliest of trees", op. 2 no. 3 (1985-99), first performed 1990, from Thoughts of Youth, no. 3.
by Robert F. Baksa (1938-) , "Loveliest of trees", from Housman Songs, no. 11.
by Keith Warren Bissell (1912-) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1972 [SSAA chorus, piano, and percussion], from Three Songs in Praise of Spring, no. ?
by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-1916) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1911 [medium-high voice and piano], from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, no. 1.
by Gerald Wilfred Cockshott (1915-) , "The cherry tree", 1939. [voice and piano]
by William W. Colson (1945-) , "Loveliest of trees" [high voice and piano], from Three Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by Edward Toner Cone (1917-) , "Loveliest of trees" [soprano and piano]
by Celius Dougherty (1902-1986) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1948. [voice and piano]
by Vernon Duke (1903-1969) [pseudonym] , "Loveliest of trees", published 1955 [medium voice and piano], from Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by John Woods Duke (1899-1984) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1934. [any voice but high, light soprano, and piano]
by John Edmunds (1913-1986) , "Loveliest of trees", alternate title: "The cherry tree", <<1943. [voice and piano]
by Robin Field (1935-) , "Loveliest of trees", 1960 [medium voice and piano], from When I was one and twenty, no. ?
by Gordon Getty (1933-) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1982, rev. 1984. [Two-part chorus (SA or TB) a cappella]
by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (1933-) , "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now", c1933.
by William Parks Grant (1910-) , "Loveliest of trees", op. 7 (A Shropshire Lad) no. ? [tenor and piano]
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1926 [baritone, string quartet, and piano], from The Western Playland, no. 2.
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "The cherry tree", 1918. [voice and piano]
by Janet Hamilton , "The cherry tree", published 1919. [medium voice and piano]
by Muriel E. Herbert , "Loveliest of trees", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Constance Mills Herreshoff , "Loveliest of trees", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910-1998) , "Loveliest of trees", from A Shropshire Lad, no. 1.
by Alan Leichtling , "Loveliest of trees", published 1971 [baritone and orchestra], from Eleven Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by Leslie Mann (1924-) , "The cherry tree", 1954 [high voice and piano], from Green Buds, no. ?
by Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872-1951) , "Youth", published 1914, from A Shropshire Lad, no. ?
by Willy B. Manson , "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now", published 1920 [voice and piano], from Three Poems from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by Robert William Manton (1894-1967) , "Loveliest of trees" [medium voice and piano], from Four songs, no. 4.
by Christabel Marillier , "Loveliest of trees", published 1923, copyright © 1949. [voice and piano]
by Kirke Mechem (1925-) , "Loveliest of trees", published <<1969 [SSA chorus a cappella], from Five Centuries of Spring, no. ?
by Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1932. [baritone and piano]
by Charles Wilfred Orr (1893-1976) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1923 [tenor and piano], from Two Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878-1937) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1911 [voice and piano], from Songs of a Shropshire Lad, no. 3.
by Hugh Priestley-Smith , "Loveliest of trees", published <<1943 [voice and piano], from From the West Country, no. ?
by Humfrey Proctor-Gregg (1895-) , "Loveliest of trees", published <<1943.
by John Raynor (1909-1970) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1971, from Eleven Songs, no. 10.
by Sir Hugh Stevenson Roberton (1874-1952) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1943. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Colin Ross , "The cherry hung with snow", published 1963. [voice and piano]
by Annetta Rosser (1938-1998) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1997, from The Appreciation of Nature and Beauty, no. 1.
by Sir Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) , "Loveliest of trees", published 1904 [voice and piano], from A Shropshire Lad, no. 1.
by Douglas Steele (1910-) , "Loveliest of trees"
by Stanley Wilson , "The cherry tree", published <<1967 [TTBB chorus a cappella], from Four Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", no. ?
by C. Woolley , "Loveliest of trees", published 1934. [voice and piano]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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