How have I stray'd, Z 188 (Henry Purcell)
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- (Posted 2019-05-29) CPDL #54393:
- Editor: Raymond Nagem (submitted 2019-05-29). Score information: Letter, 5 pages, 111 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: Original key. Contains an editorial realization of the continuo part.
General Information
Title: How have I stray'd, Z 188
Composer: Henry Purcell
Lyricist: William Fuller
Number of voices: 2vv Voicing: SB
Genre: Sacred, Sacred song
Language: English
Instruments: Basso continuo
{{Published}} is obsolete (code commented out), replaced with {{Pub}} for works and {{PubDatePlace}} for publications.
Description: Although Purcell adds a bass voice in the chorus, with some independent melodic material, this song can also be performed with solo voice and continuo only.
External websites:
Original text and translations
{{Text|English| How have I stray’d! My God, where have I been, Since first I wander’d in the Maze of Sin! Lord, I have been I know not where, So intricate Youth’s Follies are; And Age hath its Lab’rinths too, Yet neither hath a wise returning Clue! Thy Look, thy Call, to me, Shall my far better Ariadne be. O most sweet dear Jesu! Hark, hark, I hear my Shepherd call away, And in a doleful accent say, “Why does my Lamb thus stray?” O blessed Voice, That prompts me to new choice! And fain, dear Shepherd, would I come, But I can find no Track To lead me back, And if I still go on, I am undone. ‘Tis thou, O Lord, must bring me home, Or show the way, For poor Souls have thousand ways to stray, Yet to return, but only one.