Song

I had a dove and the sweet dove died;
And I have thought it died of grieving:
O, what could it grieve for?
Its feet were tied,
With a silken thread of my own hand's weaving;
Sweet little red feet! why should you die -
Why should you leave me, sweet bird! why?
You lived alone in the forest tree,
Why, pretty thing! would you not live with me?
I kissed you oft and gave you white peas:
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees?

by John Keats (1795-1821) , "Song", from Life, Letters, and Literary Remains, of John Keats, volume II, published 1848

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

by Carl Reinhold Busch (1862-1943) , "I had a dove", published 1902. [low voice and piano]
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) , "The dove", published 1954. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Gideon Fagan , "I had a dove", published 1931 [voice and piano], also set in Afrikaanse with the title "Die Duifie"
by (Charles William) Eric Fogg (1903-1939) , "The dove", published 1924. [voice and piano]
by Benjamin Frankel (1906-1973) , "I had a dove"
by Jessie Furze (1903-) , "I had a dove", published 1928. [voice and piano]
by Michael Head (1900-1976) , "The dove", published 1969. [soprano and piano]
by Marjorie Helyer , "The dove", published 1956. [SSA chorus and piano]
by Ivy Frances Klein (1895-) , "I had a dove", published 1926 [voice and piano], from Two songs, no. ?
by T. C. L. Pritchard , "I had a dove", published 1925 [voice and piano], from Six songs, no. ?
by Landon Ronald (1873-1938) , "The dove", published 1905 [voice and piano], from In Sunshine and Shadow, no. ?
by Felix Harold White (1884-1945) , "I had a dove", published 1925. [voice and piano]
by Charles Wood (1866-1926) , "My dove", published 1923. [partsong for two-part chorus and piano]
by William Francis Young , "The dove", published 1959. [voice and piano]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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