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Text
They bore him bare-faced on the bier
English source:
William Shakespeare
They bore him barefaced on the bier;
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;
And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--
Fare you well, my dove!
You must sing a-down a-down,
An you call him a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes it!
It is the false steward,
that stole his master's daughter.
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead:
Go to thy death-bed:
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll:
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan:
God ha' mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls,
I pray God.
God be wi' ye.
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;
And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--
Fare you well, my dove!
You must sing a-down a-down,
An you call him a-down-a.
O, how the wheel becomes it!
It is the false steward,
that stole his master's daughter.
For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead:
Go to thy death-bed:
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll:
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan:
God ha' mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls,
I pray God.
God be wi' ye.
From Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
Composer
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer. Rihm is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival.
Poet
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". His extant…