by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Translation Pablo Sabat
O Rose, thou art sick!
Language: English
O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The sick rose", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 9, first published 1794 [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 Samuel Hans Adler (b. 1928), "The sick rose", published 1974 [ mixed chorus and band ], from Serenade, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Antheil (1900 - 1959), "The sick rose", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Atli Heimir Sveinsson (b. 1938), "The sick rose", 1978, published c1980 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Two Elegies in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, for mixed choir, no. 2, Reykjavik : Islenzk Tónverkamidstód [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The sick rose", 1990 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Three Blake Settings, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Maximilian Beckschäfer (b. 1952), "The sick rose", 1978 [ voice and instrumental ensemble ], from Songs after William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gilbert Biberian (b. 1944), "The sick rose", 1967 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christopher Hugh Blake (b. 1949), "The sick rose", 1972 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carey Blyton (1932 - 2002), "The sick rose", 1956, from Lachrymae - In Memoriam John Dowland [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "The sick rose", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume One, no. 16 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Elegy", op. 31 no. 3 (1943), published 1944 [ tenor, horn, and strings or piano ], from Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, no. 3, London : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mervyn Burtch (b. 1929), "The sick rose", 1960 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "O rose, thou art sick", from A Summer Serenade [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alice Upton Close , "The sick rose", published c1934 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John H. Corina (1928 - 2014), "The sick rose", 1976, from From Songs of Innocence and Experience [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Jackson Cumming (b. 1928), "The sick rose", 1956 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "The sick rose", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 26 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edgar Martin Deale (1902 - 1999), "The sick rose", 1961, first performed 1961 [ SATB chorus, clarinet, piano, and orchestra ], from Five Poets -- Seven Songs [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Andross Farquhar (1928 - 2007), "The sick rose", 1948 [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacqueline Fontyn (b. 1930), "The sick rose", op. 67 no. 4 (1986), published 1987? [ vocal duet for soprano and contralto with clarinet, violin, harp, and piano ], from Rosa, rosae, no. 4, Limelette : Fontyn [sung text not yet checked]
- by Donato D. Fornuto (b. 1931), "The sick rose", published c1973 [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 4, NY : Harold Branch Music Publishing Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The sick rose", op. 27a no. 9 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "O Rose, thou art sick!", copyright © 2019 [ soprano and chamber orchestra ], from Everything Passes, no. 2, confirmed with an online score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Inglis Gundry (1905 - 2000), "The sick rose", 1950, from Four Songs of Experience [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Haines (b. 1956), "The sick rose", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fritz Bennicke Hart (1874 - 1949), "The sick rose", op. 25 (Seven songs) no. 1 (1917) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugene Hartzell (1932 - 2000), "The sick rose", 1969 [ medium voice and orchestra ], from Spring and Three Flowers, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Richard) Kenneth Haxton (b. 1919), "The sick rose", 1958, first performed 1969 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emily Hazrati (b. 1998), "The Sick Rose" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963), "The sick rose ", published c1949, 1953 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Two Songs for Soprano (or Tenor) and Piano, no. 2, NY : Associated Music Publishers [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sidney Homer (1864 - 1953), "The sick rose", op. 26 (Two "Songs of Experience") no. 1, published c1912 [ voice and piano ], NY : G. Schirmer [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Leslie John Howard (b. 1948), "The sick rose ", op. 21 (Five Songs) no. 5 (1979) [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daniel Jenkyn Jones (1912 - 1993), "O rose, thou art sick", 1977, first performed 1977 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tõnu Kalam , "The sick rose ", 1966-7, first performed 1967 [ soprano and piano ], from A Garden of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Meyer Kupferman (b. 1926), "The sick rose ", published 1973 [ voice and clarinet ], from Three Songs of Blake, no. 1, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY : General Music Publ. Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dorian Le Gallienne (1915 - 1963), "O Rose, thou art sick", 1956 [ SSATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Leibowitz (1913 - 1972), "The sick rose", op. 71 no. 1 (1966), published c1976 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Two Settings after Poems by William Blake, no. 1, Hillsdale, NY, Boelke-Bomart, also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Michael Lombardo (b. 1932), "O Rose, thou art sick" [ tenor and orchestra ], from Variations on a Rose [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ruth Margaret Lomon (b. 1930), "The sick rose", 1962, published c1980, first performed 1963 [ contralto and viola ], from Five songs after poems by William Blake, no. 3, Washington, DC : Arsis Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Judith Reher Martin (b. 1949), "Sick rose", 1973 [ soprano and contrabass ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Yves Massy (b. 1957), "The sick rose", 1984 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Wilfrid Howard Mellers (b. 1914), "The sick rose", 1978, first performed 1979 [ 2 sopranos, 2 violas, cello, 3 bass clarinets, and guitar ], from Rosae Hermeticae [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emmanuel Meuwly (b. 1948), "The sick rose" [sung text not yet checked]
- by David S. Miall (b. 1947), "The sick rose", 1971 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Richard Miller (b. 1932), "The sick rose", 1965, first performed 1966 [ SSA chorus and piano ], from Blake's Garden, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tage Nielsen (1929 - 2003), "The sick rose", 1979, first performed 1979 [ soprano and vibraphone ], from 5 Poems by William Blake, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nailah Nombeko , "The Sick Rose", 2019 [ soprano and piano ], from Short Songs to the Poetry of William Blake, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michael Nyman (b. 1944), "O Rose, thou art sick!", 1986, from opera The Man who mistook his wife for a hat, musical intermezzo [sung text not yet checked]
- by Poul Rovsing Olsen (1922 - 1982), "The sick rose ", op. 7 no. 4, published 1947, first performed 1948 [ soprano and piano ], from Four Songs, no. 4, Copenhagen : Viking Musikforlag [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nick Peros (b. 1963), "The sick rose" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Brent Pierce , "The sick rose", published c1974 [ mixed chorus and instrumental ensemble ], from Jazz Fragments [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daniel Rogers Pinkham (1923 - 2006), "The sick rose", 1959 [ 2-part women's chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Rochberg (1918 - 2005), "The sick rose", 1957, published 1963, rev. 1962, first performed 1961 [ soprano and instrumental ensemble ], from Blake Songs, no. 4, NY : Leeds Music Corp. (MCA) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The sick rose", 1944 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "The sick rose", published c1982 [ high voice, oboe, and strings ], from After Long Silence, NY : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sven-David Sandström (b. 1942), "The sick rose (To Thomas)", 1980, first performed 1982 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from Three Poems by William Blake, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Theodore P. Saunway (b. 1940), "The sick rose ", c1976 [ baritone and piano ], from Four Songs on the Human Condition, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gerard Schürmann (b. 1928), "The sick rose", 1956, published 1996-7, from Six Songs of William Blake, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leif Segerstam (b. 1944), "The sick rose", 1970-1 [ soprano and orchestra ], from Six Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leif Segerstam (b. 1944), "The sick rose ", 1970-1 [ soprano and orchestra ], from Six Songs of Experience, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Shadle (b. 1960), "The sick rose", 1999 [ vocal sextet a cappella ], from Three Songs of Innocence and a Song of Experience, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Evelyn Sharpe (1884 - 1969), "The sick rose", published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Fragments of Song, no. 2, London : J. B. Cramer & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Ferguson Shaw (b. 1926), "The sick rose", 1968 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Blake Poems, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "The sick rose", op. 132 no. 8 (2001) [ speaker and tape ], from The Innocence of Experience, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "The sick rose", op. 32 no. 5, published 1981, rev. 2003, first performed 1986 [ voice and organ ], from Fearful symmetry, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020), "The sick rose", op. 32a no. 5, published 1981, rev. 2003, first performed 1986 [ voice and piano ], from Fearful symmetry, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Leopold Spinner (1906 - 1980), "The sick rose", op. 15 (Three Songs for Tenor and Piano) no. 1 (1959) [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pasquale J. Spino (b. 1942), "O Rose, thou art sick", 1975 [ tenor solo, SATB chorus, violin, piano ], from cantata Lament, no. 3, unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christopher Steel (b. 1939), "The sick rose", op. 9 no. 2, published c1967 [ unison chorus and piano ], from Three Songs of William Blake, no. 2, London : Novello [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "The sick rose", c1931, first performed 1975 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lester Trimble (b. 1923), "Finale con arioso", subtitle: "The sick rose", 1967, published c1969 [ medium voice, violin, oboe, and harpsichord or piano ], from Petit Concert, no. 5, NY : C. F. Peters [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Thomas) Gerard Victory (1921 - 1995), "The sick rose", 1977/8, first performed 1978 [ soprano, tenor, and SATB chorus a cappella ], from Seven Songs of Experience, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Paul Vollrath (b. 1931), "The sick rose", 1963, from Five Short Songs by William Blake [sung text not yet checked]
- by Felix Werder (b. 1922), "The sick rose ", 1961-2 [ soprano and piano ], from From the Blake Collection, op. 42 and op. 50, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986), "O rose, thou art sick" [ voice and piano ], from Book of Religious Songs, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Wilding-White (1922 - 2001), "The sick rose", published c1972 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four William Blake Songs, no. 1, NY : Highgate Press (Galaxy) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lawrence Willingham (b. 1942), "The sick rose", op. 17 no. 3 (1979) [ soprano and piano ], from Songs of Innocence and Experience, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Willis, Dr. (b. 1929), "The sick rose", published 1972 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Philip Gordon Winsor (b. 1938), "The sick rose", 1960 [ soprano, flute, bass clarinet, violin, and violoncello ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jacques-Louis Monod ; composed by René Leibowitz.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by W. Wilhelm ; composed by Michael Thiele.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La rosa malalta", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "La rose malade", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Die erkrankte Rose", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die kranke Rose", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- NYN Norwegian (Nynorsk) (Are Frode Søholt) , "Elegi", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Больная роза", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , "Elegía"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 34
Elegía
Language: Spanish (Español) after the English
¡Oh Rosa, tú estás enferma! El invisible gusano Que vuela en la noche, En la intensa tormenta, Ha encontrado tu lecho De júbilo carmesí: Y su oscuro amor secreto Destruye tu vida.
The translator has released this translation into the public domain.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Spanish (Español) by Pablo Sabat
Based on:
- a text in English by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The sick rose", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 9, first published 1794
This text was added to the website: 2013-05-26
Line count: 8
Word count: 32