I sowed the seeds of love (Gustav Holst)

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• (Posted 2023-11-02)  CPDL #76915:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-02).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 499 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

• (Posted 2020-07-13)  CPDL #59721:     

Editor: Douglas Walczak (submitted 2020-07-13).   Score information: Letter, 5 pages, 65 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Arranged by Gustav Holst for Men's Voices First published 1924

• (Posted 2016-04-29)  CPDL #39454:       

Editor: Peter Kaplan (submitted 2016-04-29).   Score information: Letter, 6 pages, 2.73 MB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: With piano reduction for rehearsal only.

General Information

Title: I Sowed the Seeds of Love
Composer: George Barnet Gardiner
Arranger: Gustav Holst
Lyricist: Anonymous

Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB, with occasional divisi
Genre: Secular, Folksong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1917 in Six Choral Folksongs (Gustav Holst), no. 1
Description: Arrangement of a folk song collected by George Barnet Gardiner

Original text and translations

English text

1 I sowed the seeds of love
I sowed them in the spring
I gather'd them up in the morning so soon
When small birds sweetly sing

2 My garden was planted well
With flowers everywhere
But I had not the liberty to choose
The flow'r that I lov'd so dear

3 The gardener standing by
I asked him to choose for me
He chose for me the violet, the lily, the pink
But these I refused all three

4 The violet I did not like
Because it fades so soon
The lily and pink I did over-think
And vow'd I would wait till June

5 In June is a red, red Rose
And that is the flower for me
I'll pluck it and think that no lily or pink
Can match with the bud on that tree