O lady, leave thy silken thread (Walter Cecil Macfarren)

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• (Posted 2023-11-13)  CPDL #77267:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-13).   Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 518 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

• (Posted 2019-11-23)  CPDL #56022:         

Editor: James Gibb (submitted 2019-11-23).   Score information: A4, 9 pages, 138 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Includes a keyboard reduction of the a cappella choral score.

General Information

Title: O lady, leave thy silken thread
Composer: Walter Cecil Macfarren
Lyricist: Thomas Hood

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1876 in Novello's Part-Song Book (2nd series), Vol. 9, no. 278
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

O Lady, leave thy silken thread
And flowery tapestry;
There's living roses on the bush,
And blossoms on the tree;
Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand
Some random bud will meet;
Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find
The daisy at thy feet.

'Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume;
There's crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turn'd to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.

There's fairy tulips in the east,
The garden of the sun;
The very streams reflect the hues,
And blossom as they run:
While morn opes like a crimson rose,
Still wet with pearly showers;
Then, lady, leave the silken thread
Thou twinest into flowers.