Veni dilecte mi

General information

Source of text: Song of Songs 7:11-12, 4:11a and 8:6a.

Settings by composers

• Orlando di Lasso SATTB (1st part only)
• Jacquet de Mantua SATTB (both parts, but omitting last part of 7:12)
• Jacob Meiland SATTB (1st part only)

Other settings possibly not included in the manual list above

• Andreas Hakenberger — Veni dilecte mi

Text and translations

Latin text Prima pars 7:11  Veni dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum, commoremur in villis, 7:12  Mane surgamus ad vineas. Videamus si floruit vinea, si flores fructus parturiunt, si floruerunt mala punica. Ibi dabo tibi ubera mea. Secunda pars 4:11a  Favus distillans labia tua, [dilecte mi], mel et lac sub lingua tua. 8:6a  Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus aemulatio.

English translation Prima pars 7:11  Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages. 7:12  Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts. Secunda pars 4:11a  Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, [my beloved] honey and milk are under thy tongue; 8:6a  Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell. (Douai-Rheims)