title: Is she not passing fair?
text: # Is she not passing fair?
  
  "Is she not passing fair?" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar.
  
  It was completed on 28 October 1886 but not published until 1908, by Boosey & Co.
  
  It is described as a "Lay", written by Charles, Duke of Orléans (1391-1466) and translated [from the French] by Louisa Stuart Costello.
  
  ## Lyrics
  
  IS SHE NOT PASSING FAIR?
  
      Is she not passing fair,
         She whom I love so well ?
      On earth, in sea, or air,
         Where may her equal dwell ?
      Oh! tell me, ye who dare
         To brave her beauty's spell,
      Is she not passing fair,
         She whom I love so well ?
      Whether she speak or sing,
         Be jocund or serene,
      Alike in ev'rything,
         Is she not beauty's queen ?
      Then let the world declare,
         Let all who see her tell,
      That she is passing fair,
         She whom I love so well !
  
  ## Recordings
  
  * Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "Is she not passing fair?" performed by Mark Wilde (tenor), with David Owen Norris (piano).
  * The Songs of Edward Elgar SOMM CD 220 Neil Mackie (tenor) with Malcolm Martineau (piano), at Southlands College, London, April 1999
  