Sweet and low, sweet and low
   Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
   Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
   Blow him again to me,
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
   Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother's breast,
   Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his [babe]1 in the nest,
Silver [sails all out]2 of the west
   Under the silver moon!
Sleep my little one, sleep my pretty one, sleep.

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Note: The Princess: A Medley was first published in 1847. This poem was added in the 1850 edition.

¹ Turkevich-Lukiyanovich: "baby"
² Turkevich-Lukiyanovich: "sails out"

Text Authorship:

• by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892), appears in The Princess [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Stephen Adams (1844 - 1913), "Sweet and low", published 1901 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by William Henry Anderson (1882 - 1955), "Sweet and low", published 1944 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johan Backer-Lunde (1874 - 1958), "Sweet and low", op. 39 no. 3 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Barnby, Sir (1838 - 1896), "Sweet and low", 1863 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "Sweet and low", 1916 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Otto Dresel (1826 - 1890), "Sweet and low", 1855, published 1855 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Sweet and low", op. 20a no. 1, H. 80 no. 1 [ chorus ], from Songs from The Princess, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Sidney Homer (1864 - 1953), "Sweet and low", op. 7 no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leonard J[ordan] Lehrman (b. 1949), "Sweet and low", op. 6 no. 3 (1964-5) [ SSAA quartet or chorus ], from Song Cyclette of Three Girls' Love Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Florence A. Marshall (b. 1843), "Sweet and low", 1877 [ voice and piano ], Novello, Ewer & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Humphries Pease (1838 - 1882), "Cradle song" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "Wind of the Western Sea" [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Sweet And Low", op. 115 (1946) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "Sweet and low", published 1908 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Stefania Ivanivna Turkevich-Lukiyanovich (1898 - 1977), "Sweet and Low", subtitle: "Солодко-ніжний" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Marian McLaughlin, Anthony L. W. Scott.

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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810 - 1876) , "Wiegenlied" ; composed by Adolf Jensen.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Adolf Strodtmann (1829 - 1879) , appears in Lieder- und Balladenbuch amerikanischer und englischer Dichter der Gegenwart, in Lieder aus "Die Prinzessin", no. 4, first published 1862 ; composed by Paul Kubin, Heinrich Zöllner.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Edwin Bormann (1851 - 1912) ; composed by Rudolf Buck.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Sanft und sacht", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 99