When daisies pied and violets blue
 [And lady-smocks all silver white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue]1,
  Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
  And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
[When]2 turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
  And maidens bleach their summer [smocks]3,
The cuckoo, then on ev'ry tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
  Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, cuckoo: o word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Stravinsky: "And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,/ And lady-smocks all silver white"
² Arne: "And"
³ Arne: "frocks"

Text Authorship:

• by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2 [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 Godfrey Edward Pellew Arkwright (1864 - 1944), "When daisies pied", published [1902?] [ high medium voice and piano ], from Nine Songs from Shakespeare, London, Joseph Williams [sung text not yet checked]
• by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710 - 1778), "When daisies pied" [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], note: there is also a version of this song with a clarinet part written by Henry Lazarus (1815-1895)  [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Alan Bullard (b. 1947), "The cuckoo - When daisies pied", 1985, first performed 1985 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Bird Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977), "The cuckoo" [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "When Daisies Pied" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956), "When daisies pied", op. 28a no. 1 (1946-7) [ voice, small orchestra ], from Four Songs from Love's Labours Lost, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "When daisies pied", 1946, published 1947 [ voice and piano ], from Songs nach Texten von William Shakespeare mit Klavierbegleitung , no. 3, Mainz : Schott, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "When daisies pied", op. 181 no. 5 (1988) [ counter-tenor, recorder, harpsichord, and violoncello ], from Six by Four, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "When daisies pied", 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mervyn, Lord Horder, the Second Baron of Ashford (1910 - 1998), "When daisies pied", 1986 [ voice and piano ], from Seven Shakespeare Songs, London : Lengnick [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Jeffreys (1927 - 2010), "When daisies pied" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by J. Frederick Keel (1871 - 1954), "When daisies pied", published 1940 [ 2-part chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by George Alexander MacFarren (1813 - 1887), "When daisies pied", 1864 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950), "When daisies pied", R. 76 no. 3 (1940), published 1940 [ high voice or medium voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971), "Spring", 1953, from Three Songs from William Shakespeare, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930), "Mockery", 1927, published 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "The cuckoo and the owl" [ high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Songs, Book VII, no. 3
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    
• by John Milford Rutter, CBE (b. 1945), "When Daisies pied", 1997 [ chorus and piano ]
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), a translation by Camille de Sainte-Croix (1859 - 1915) ; composed by Paul Vidal.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773 - 1853) , no title ; composed by Johann Peter Cornelius D'Alquen, Wilhelm Petersen.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation ; composed by Jan Karol Gall.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Georg Mantey ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) ; composed by Harald Genzmer.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ferdinand Mayerhofer von Grünbühel (1798 - 1869) , "Der Frühling", appears in Der Liebe Müh' umsonst, Wien: J. P. Sollinger, first published 1825 ; composed by Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Kevät", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo)
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Lied. Der Frühling", first published 1870
• NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Arild Bakke) , "Når spraglet tusenfryd", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 97

Wenn Veilchen blau und bunter Klee
Und Kuckucksblümchen goldbestrahlt
Und Maienglöckchen, weiß wie Schnee,
Mit neuem Reitz die Wiesen mahlt.
Auf jedem Baum neckt singend dann
Der Kuckuck einen Ehemann.
Kuckuck, 
Kuckuck! O schlimmer Schall,
Vermählten Ohren bloß zur Qual.

Wenn auf dem Rohr der Schäfer pfeift, 
Die Lerche froh den Pflüger weckt, 
Wenn Amsel, Dohl' und Turtel streift, 
Die Dirn' ihr Garn zur Bleiche streckt: 
Auf jedem Baum neckt singend dann 
Der Kuckuck einen Ehemann: 
Kuckuck, 
Kuckuck!  O schlimmer Schall, 
Vermählten Ohren bloß zur Qual.