Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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O mistress mine - (2011)
William Shakespeare
for baritone and piano
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true-love's coming
That can sing both high and low;
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journey's end in lovers' meeting--
Every wise man's son doth know.
What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty,--
Then come kiss me, Sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.[ 2 pages, circa 1' 45" ]
William Shakespeare
The text is of our "Clown" singing his well-known “Carpe Diem” from Act II, Scene 3 of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1623).
The rollicking 6/6 with its falling sevenths and parallel diatonic fourths in the accompaniment underpin an enthusiastic vocal line, rising from its "high" to "low" per the clown's own sage advice. Of course, such a setting ends with a rousing "high" F for baritone.
The score for O mistress mine is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
