When wearied wretches sink to sleep (Henry Rowley Bishop)

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• (Posted 2023-09-24)  CPDL #75712:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-09-24).   Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 669 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: When wearied wretches sink to sleep
Composer: Henry Rowley Bishop
Lyricist: Thomas Moore
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong, Glee

Language: English
Instruments: Piano

First published: 1864 Novello, Ewer & Co.
Description: Other published versions include the earliest by Goulding, D’Almaine, Potter & Co., [c.1815].

Original text and translations

English text

When wearied wretches sink to sleep,
How heavenly soft their slumbers lie;
How sweet is death to those who weep,
Who weep and long to die.

Saw you the soft and grassy bed,
Where flowerets deck the green earth’s breast,
’Tis there I wish to lay my head,
’Tis there I wish to sleep at rest.

Lo! now, methinks, in tones sublime,
As viewless o’er our heads they bend,
They whisper, thus we steal your time,
Weak mortals, till your days shall end.

Then wake the dance, and wake the song,
Resound the festive mirth and glee,
Alas! the days have passed along,
The days we never more shall see.

Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
John Leyden (1775–1811)