''Songs of the Sea'' is a

cycle Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in soc ...

of five songs for baritone, male voice chorus, and orchestra, to poems by

Henry Newbolt Sir Henry John Newbolt, CH (6 June 1862 – 19 April 1938) was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps best remembered for his poems "Vit ...

. It was composed by

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

, was premiered at the 1904

Leeds Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

, and was published as his Op. 91. ''Songs of the Fleet'' is a companion cycle of five songs for baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra, also to poems by Newbolt. It was premiered at Leeds in 1910, and was published by Stanford as his Op. 117.

Overview

According to music critic Geoffrey Crankshaw: "Drake's Drum" may be the best known of the ten songs. It relates to the legend that

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...

, naval hero under

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, on his deathbed in the

Spanish Main During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...

, asked that his drum be taken to England. He promised that should it be beaten in the hour of England's gravest need, he and his fleet would reappear in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

to repel the invaders; as they did the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

in 1588. It has been recorded by, among others, Peter Dawson,

John Shirley-Quirk John Stanton Shirley-Quirk CBE (28 August 19317 April 2014) was an English bass-baritone. A member of the English Opera Group during 1964–76, he gave premiere performances of several operatic and vocal works by Benjamin Britten, recording these ...

and Sir Thomas Allen; either in the original version, or in an arrangement for voice and piano.

''Songs of the Sea''

''Songs of the Sea'' was written for

Harry Plunket Greene Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examinations ...

, a renowned baritone in his day. He gave the first performance, at the 1904 Leeds Festival. The texts are: # "Drake's Drum" # "Outward Bound" # "Devon, O Devon, in Wind and Rain" # "Homeward Bound" # "The Old Superb" A complete performance takes about 18 minutes.

Haydn Wood Haydn Wood (25 March 1882 – 11 March 1959) was a 20th-century English composer and concert violinist, best known for his 200 or so ballad style songs, including the popular ''Roses of Picardy''. Life Haydn Wood was born in the West Riding ...

(1882-1959), best known for his light music, made an orchestral arrangement of ''Songs of the Sea'', known variously as ''Stanford Rhapsody'' and as ''Westward Ho''.

''Songs of the Fleet''

Greene was also connected with ''Songs of the Fleet'', premiered at the 1910 Leeds Festival. The texts are: # "Sailing at Dawn" # "The Song of the Sou'wester" # "The Middle Watch" # "The Little Admiral" # "Fare Well" A complete performance takes about 26 minutes.

Notable recordings

* 1928/1933 – Peter Dawson with unnamed men's chorus, orchestra and conductor.

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

B 2743. (78 rpm) * 1983 -

Benjamin Luxon Benjamin Matthew Luxon (born 24 March 1937, Redruth, Cornwall) is a retired British baritone. Biography He studied with Walther Gruner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (while working part-time as a PE teacher in the East End) and est ...

with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

under

Norman Del Mar Norman René Del Mar CBE (31 July 19196 February 1994) was a British conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialised in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. H ...

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

ASD 4401.

References

External links

* * {{Charles Villiers Stanford 1904 compositions Song cycles by Charles Villiers Stanford Classical song cycles in English Musical settings of poems by Henry Newbolt