When first my Phillis did appear (Elizabeth Turner)
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- (Posted 2024-03-06) CPDL #79409:
- Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2024-03-06). Score information: A4, 5 pages, 622 kB Copyright: CC BY SA
- Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.
General Information
Title: When first my Phillis did appear
Composer: Elizabeth Turner
Lyricist: The words by a gentlemancreate page
Number of voices: 1v Voicing: solo high
Genre: Secular, Aria
Language: English
Instruments: Basso continuo,violin
First published: 1756
Description:
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
When first my Phillis did appear,
I look'd and thought her passing fair;
And when she spoke, attention hung
To catch the music of her tongue.
But still I thought myself secure;
She pleas'd, but ah! could nothing more.
Tho' all the day I gaz'd, my sight
Was still engag'd with new delight;
All day I listen'd, still I found
New life, new sense in ev'ry sound:
And what so slightly pleas'd before,
I now admir'd, or something more.
But when my wishes I confess'd,
With each fond thought that fill'd my breast,
To find the dear consenting maid
At once so kind to all I said.
If love possess'd my soul before,
Now, sure, it must be something more.
And judge, ye youths, what heart-felt bliss
Sprung from the soft inspiring kiss;
When love and faithful union tied,
And gave me Phillis for my bride.
'Twas simple, all I felt before;
'Twas now, there could be nothing more.