Composed by Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) to lyrics commissioned from A. C. Swinburne, for John Hollingshead’s 1874 production of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ at the Gaiety Theatre London. It was sung by the character Anne Page (and a chorus of children), at the beginning of Act  iii, scene iv (see ‘The Swinburne Letters’, vol. ii, p. 355).

Lyrics originally published in the Examiner on 26 December, 1874, and reprinted in Poems and Ballads, Second Series (1878).

Music – London: Boosey & Co, 1875

Categories: music

Tags: Arthur Sullivan, Love laid his sleepless head, Poems & Ballads, Shakespeare, Swinburne, Theatre