I'll sail upon the Dog-star | I'll sail upon the Dog Star

Translation by Thomas d'Urfey (1653 - 1723)

I'll sail upon the Dog‑star

Language: English after the English

Our translations: CAT CHI

I'll sail upon the Dog Star,
And then pursue the morning,
I'll chase the moon 'till it be noon,
But I'll make her leave her horning.

I'll climb the frosty mountain,
And there I'll coin the weather;
I'll tear the rainbow from the sky,
And tie both ends together.

The stars pluck from their orbs, too,
And crowd them in my budget!
And whether I'm a roaring boy,
Let all the nations judge it.

Available sung texts: ← What is this?

• B. Britten • N. Maw • H. Purcell

Text Authorship:

by Thomas d'Urfey (1653 - 1723) [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in English by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625), no title, from Noble Gentlemen [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

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

by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "I'll sail upon the dog-star", 1947 [ voice and piano ], a realization of the Purcell song. Confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
by Nicholas Maw (1935 - 2009), "I'll sail upon the Dog‑star", published 1978 [ voice (or unison voices) and piano ], from Caroline Pink (and other Nonsense Rhymes), no. 6, London ; New York : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
by Henry Purcell (1658/9 - 1695), "I'll sail upon the Dog-star", Z. 571 no. 6 (1688), from the incidental music to A Fool's Preferment -or- The Three Dukes of Dunstable, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this page: Virginia Knight

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 74

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