Rosalind, from As You Like It, is one of a set of five 'Shakespeare Songs' which Sullivan composed during 1863 and 1864. The others are Orpheus with his Lute, O Mistress Mine, The Willow Song and Sigh No More, Ladies.Sullivan sold these songs to the publisher for five guineas each but it did not take him long to discover this was a mistake and that if he were paid for songs on a royalty basis, he could increase his income from them substantially. William H. Cummings had been a chorister with Sullivan at the Chapel Royal. He had a career as a tenor on the concert platform and later became principal of the Guildhall School of Music.

MIDI File [13K, 2' 15"]

Score [288K]

From the east to western Ind,
No jewel is like Rosalind,
Her worth being mounted on the wind,
Thro' all the world bears Rosalind.
All the pictures fairest lined
Are but black to Rosalind.
Let no fair be kept in mind
But the fair of Rosalind.
All the pictures fairest lined
Are but black to Rosalind.
Let no fair be kept in mind
But the fair of Rosalind.
Rosalind of many parts
By heav'nly synod was devised
Of many faces, eyes and hearts,
To have the touches dearest prized.
Heaven would that she these gifts should have,
And I to live and die her slave.
Heaven would that she these gifts should have,
And I to live and die, to die her slave.

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