That Very Wise Man, Old Aesop (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)

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• (Posted 2023-12-20)  CPDL #78434:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-12-20).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 473 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes: SATB version, arranged from male voices version by the composer.

Parry substitutes “very wise man” for Dickens’ original “very wise head.” This edition uses Dickens’ original.

General Information

Title: That Very Wise Man, Old Aesop
Composer: Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
Lyricist: Charles Dickens
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicings: SATB or TTBB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1924 Novello and Co.
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

That very wise head, old Æsop, said,
“The bow should be sometimes loose;
Keep it tight for ever, the string you sever.”:—
Let’s turn his old moral to use.
The world forget, and let us yet,
The glass our spirits buoying,
Revel to-night in those moments bright
Which make life worth enjoying.
The cares of the day, old moralists say,
Are quite enough to perplex one;
Then drive to-day’s sorrow away till to-morrow,
And then put it off till the next one.

Some plodding old crones, the heartless drones!
Appeal to my cool reflection,
And ask me whether such nights can ever
Charm sober recollection.
Yes, yes! I cry, I’ll grieve and die,
When those I love forsake me;
But while friends so dear surround me here,
Let Care, if he can, o’ertake me.
The cares of the day, old moralists say,
Are quite enough to perplex one;
Then drive to-day’s sorrow away till to-morrow,
And then put it off till the next one.

The Village Coquettes
Act 1