Lay a garland
{{Short description|Poem}}
"Lay a garland" is a popular English poem from the play The Maid's Tragedy (Act II, Scene I) written in 1608-11. The poem was famously set to music by Robert Lucas de Pearsall on 4 June 1840,{{Cite book|title=Madrigals and Partsongs|year=2001|isbn=0-19-343694-9|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=375}} scored for SSAATTBB in Eb. In 1854, Pearsall produced a contrafactum of Lay a Garland, to the Latin text Tu es Petrus, dedicating it to the first bishop of St Gallen, John Peter. This is more often performed by choirs in a liturgical setting, as the original words for the music are more appropriate to a secular occasion.
Lyrics
The song is sung by Aspasia where her betrothed is forced into a marriage of convenience to the king's mistress. The original words are as follows:{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Lay_a_garland_(Robert_Lucas_Pearsall)|title=Lay a Garland|date= 2008-03-31|publisher=CPDL}}
Lay a garland on my hearse
of the{{ref label|Removed|I}} dismal yew.
Maidens, willow branches wear,
say I died true.
My love was false, but I was firm
from my hour of birth.{{ref label|Removed|I}}
Upon my buried body lie
lightly, gentle earth.
However Pearsall's music is set to these adapted words changed from first to third person
Lay a garland on her hearse
of dismal yew.
Maidens, willow branches wear,
say she died true.
Her love was false, but she was firm.
Upon her buried body lie
lightly, thou{{ref label|Added|II}} gentle earth.
{{refbegin}}
:I{{note|Removed}}: These words were present in the original poem by Beaumont and Fletcher but omitted in the composition
:II{{note|Added}}: Word was added to the into the composition.
{{refend}}