This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Delia, the stray nymph
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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Delia, the stray nymph by Herbert Walter Wareing — Lyrics
(much of the original poem is not included in Wareing’s musical setting. Text below includes only the lines used in this setting)
Cease your music, gentle swains!
Saw ye Delia cross the plains?
Ev’ry thicket, ev’ry grove
Have I ranged, to find my love.
A kid, a lamb, my flock I give,
Tell me only doth she live?
White her skin as mountain snow,
In her cheeks the roses blow,
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About Delia, the stray nymph
This SATB setting of an English text paints a vivid pastoral scene. The narrator, a shepherd, implores his fellow swains to cease their music and help him find his lost love, Delia. He describes her beauty in detail, comparing her skin to snow, her cheeks to roses, her eyes to the morning star, and her lips to dewy berries. Her hair is like curling vines, and she moves with the lightness of a hind escaping hounds. The composer captures the urgency of the search and the idealized beauty of the nymph in this charming secular partsong.
