Over Hill, over Dale

 

Amy Beach (1867-1944)
from Three Shakespeare Songs

Text: Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Act II scene i.

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

 

 

This piece was performed on Octarium’s The Shakespeare Concert, May 2004.