"Where Corals Lie" is a poem by Richard Garnett which was set to music by

Sir Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

as the fourth song in his song-cycle ''

Sea Pictures ''Sea Pictures, Op. 37'' is a song cycle by Sir Edward Elgar consisting of five songs written by various poets. It was set for contralto and orchestra, though a distinct version for piano was often performed by Elgar. Many mezzo-sopranos have su ...

''. The poem was first published in ''Io in Egypt and other poems'' in 1859 and subsequently anthologized in ''Sea Music'' in 1888.

Lyrics

(Italicised text indicates lines repeated in the song, but not in the original poem.) The deeps have music soft and low When winds awake the airy spry, It lures me, lures me on to go And see the land where corals lie. ''The land, the land, where corals lie.'' By mount and mead, by lawn and rill, When night is deep, and moon is high, That music seeks and finds me still, And tells me where the corals lie. ''And tells me where the corals lie.'' Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well, ''Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well'', But far the rapid fancies fly To rolling worlds of wave and shell, And all the land where corals lie. Thy lips are like a sunset glow, Thy smile is like a morning sky, Yet leave me, leave me, let me go And see the land where corals lie. ''The land, the land, where corals lie.''

Elgar's setting

Elgar's music is in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

. It alternates between the regular off-beat quaver accompaniment and, at the end of each verse, a single ''

colla parte A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

'' bar that slows down the tempo to emphasise the text and which requires sensitive accompaniment. Woodwind refrains add colour and contrast. Elgar doubles the vocal lines with flute and clarinet (verse one), solo cello (verse two), and violins (verse four). The third stanza is the most challenging, with frequent ''colla parte'', a suspension of the

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

and an ''

accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...

'' into a lower

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

. It was the most popular of the songs in ''

''. In this musical form, it was a great favourite in Britain, appearing in the classical favourites programme,

Your Hundred Best Tunes ''Your Hundred Best Tunes'' was a BBC radio music programme, always broadcast on Sunday evenings, which presented popular works which were mostly classical excerpts, choral works, opera and ballads. The hundred tunes which made up the playlist w ...

Notable recordings

Dame Clara Butt Dame Clara Ellen Butt, (1 February 1872 – 23 January 1936) was an English contralto and one of the most popular singers from the 1890s through to the 1920s. She had an exceptionally fine contralto voice and an agile singing technique, and imp ...

— 1912 *

Maartje Offers Maartje Offers (27 February 1891, Koudekerk (aan den Rijn) – 28 January 1944, Tholen) was a Dutch contralto classical singer. Recordings * ''Het Puik van zoete kelen'' (''The Cream of Glorious Voices'') Philips Dutch Masters 464 385-2 Songs i ...

—1928 *

Dame Janet Baker Dame Janet Abbott Baker (born 21 August 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.Blyth, Alan, "Baker, Dame Janet (Abbott)" in Sadie, Stanley, ed.; John Tyrell; exec. ed. (2001). ''New Grove Dictionary ...

— 1965

These New Puritans These New Puritans are an English music group/band from Southend-on-Sea, England. It consists mainly of Jack Barnett (principal songwriter, vocalist, producer, multi-instrumentalist) and his twin brother George Barnett (drums, electronics, prod ...

include a reworking of Where Corals Lie on their 2010 album Hidden. For a full list of recordings, see the ''

'' page.

References

{{Edward Elgar 1859 poems Songs by Edward Elgar 1888 songs