Whilst Strephon on fair Chloe hung (Sigr. Anglosini)

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(Posted 2022-05-15) CPDL #69249:

Editor: Christopher Shaw (submitted 2022-05-15). Score information: A4, 4 pages, 309 kB Copyright: CC BY SA

Edition notes: Please click on the link for preview/playback/PDF download.

General Information

Title: Whilst Strephon on fair Chloe hung
Composer: Sigr. Anglosini
Lyricist: Anonymous
Number of voices: 1v Voicing: Solo high
Genre: Secular, Cantata

Language: English
Instruments: Basso continuo

First published: 1746
Description: A cantata most probably written for performance in the London pleasure gardens and anthologised in several contemporary song collections (in this version, from "Universal Harmony", London, 1746. The attribution is most likely fictitious. See Sigr. Anglosini

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Original text and translations

English text

Whilst Strephon on fair Chloe hung,
He gently woo'd, and sweetly sung;
The nymph, in a disdainful air,
Thus, smiling, mock'd the shepherd's care.

Swain, I know that you discover
In my form a thousand charms;
Can you point me out a lover
Worthy my encircling arms?
Boy, no more approach my beauty,
Till you equal merit boast;
To adore me is a duty,
Thousands witness to their cost.

Stung to the heart, the redd'ning swain
On the vain maid retorts again:

Foolish creature, did each feature
Bloom beyond the pride of nature?
Artful feigning, coy, disdaining,
Vain coquette, destroys them all.
Go, o'erbearing, proud, ensnaring,
Lay a thousand fops despairing,
Then complying, sighing, dying,
To some fool a victim fall.
Nymphs like you, whilst they're deceiving,
Angels all in front appear;
But the sot, their arts believing,
Finds a devil in the rear.