My prime of youth is but a frost of cares (Richard Allison)
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- (Posted 2022-07-11) CPDL #69958:
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2022-07-11). Score information: A4, 11 pages, 144 kB Copyright: CC BY SA
- Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.
General Information
Title: My prime of youth is but a frost of cares
Composer: Richard Allison
Lyricist: Chidiock Tichbornecreate page
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SSAB
Genre: Secular, Madrigal
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
First published: 1606 in An Howres Recreation in Musicke, no. 9 & 10
Description: Tichborne's text was purportedly written on the eve of his execution for his part in Babington's plot, 1586. Despite his deeply Catholic associations, the elegy was was set by composers of lugubrious bent of all denominations.
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares;
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain;
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain:
My life is fled, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
The spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung;
The fruit is dead, and yet my leaves are green;
My youth is spent, and yet I am but young;
I saw the world, and yet I was not seen:
My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.