Dry be that tear, my gentlest love (Thomas Linley the elder)

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  • (Posted 2017-11-09)  CPDL #47266:  Network.png
Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2017-11-09).   Score information: A4, 3 pages, 58 kB   Copyright: Personal
Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.

General Information

Title: Dry be that tear, my gentlest love
Composer: Thomas Linley the elder
Lyricist: Richard Brinsley Sheridancreate page

Number of voices: 3vv   Voicing: SSB

Genre: SecularUnknown

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published:

Description: Thomas Linley was the head of a musical Bath family several of whose children achieved a national reputation (as did his son in law, and lyricist in this piece). Some of his elegies (a mid- eighteenth century form akin to, but separate from, the glee were perhaps composed for his dughters, two of whom were well known singers. This piece is perhaps one such.


External websites:

Original text and translations

English.png English text

Dry be that tear, my gentlest love,
Be hushed that struggling sigh;
Not seasons, day, nor fate shall prove
More fixed, more true, than I.
Dry be that tear, be hushed that sigh,
I'll love thee till I die.

Ask'st thou how long my vows shall stay,
When all that's new is past?
How long, Ah! Delia, can I say
How long my life shall last?
Dry be that tear, be hushed that sigh,
I'll love thee till I die.

And does the thought affect thee too;
The thought of Sylvios' death;
That he who only lived for you
Should yield his faithful breath?
Hushed be that sigh, dry be that tear,
Nor let us loose our heaven here.