''Blest Pair of Sirens'' is a short work for choir and orchestra by the English composer

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is b ...

, setting

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

''At a solemn Musick''. It was first performed at

St James's Hall St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...

, London on 17 May 1887, conducted by its dedicatee,

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 ...

. The piece is about 11 minutes in duration.

Background

In the mid 1880s, Parry was struggling to establish himself as a composer. In 1886, he was disappointed when his one attempt at opera, ''Guenever'', was rejected by the impresario

Carl Rosa Carl August Nicholas Rosa (22 March 184230 April 1889) was a German-born musical impresario best remembered for founding an English opera company known as the Carl Rosa Opera Company. He started his company in 1869 together with his wife, Euphro ...

.Dibble, Jeremy
"Parry, Sir (Charles) Hubert (Hastings)"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press , accessed 28 April 2013 Shortly after that setback, Parry was commissioned by

to compose a piece for the

Bach Choir The Bach Choir is a large independent musical organisation founded in London, England in 1876 to give the first performance of J. S. Bach's ''Mass in B minor'' in Britain. The choir has around 240 active members. Directed by David Hill MBE ( Yal ...

of London, of which Parry was a member."History of the Bach Choir"
The Bach Choir, accessed 28 April 2013 Stanford, one of the first British musicians to recognise Parry's talent, called him the greatest English composer since

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest En ...

.Hadow, Sir William
"Sir Hubert Parry"
''Proceedings of the Musical Association, 45th Session (1918–1919)'', pp. 135–147, accessed 18 April 2013 Stanford had originally intended to perform an existing work of Parry's, the 1885 cantata ''The Glories of our Blood and State''. As the concert was to mark the Golden Jubilee of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, it was thought that such lines in the text as "Sceptre and crown must tumble down" made the work unsuitable for the occasion. Asked to write a new piece, Parry turned, at the suggestion of his colleague

George Grove Sir George Grove (13 August 182028 May 1900) was an English engineer and writer on music, known as the founding editor of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. Grove was trained as a civil engineer, and successful in that profession, ...

, to Milton's ode, which he had been considering setting for many years. The main item in the concert was the first London performance of

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

(1849), dedicated to the queen's late husband,

Albert, Prince Consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...

. Berlioz's work is on an enormous scale, and would have overshadowed any companion piece other than one of the highest quality."Berlioz's 'Te Deum'", ''The Times'', 19 May 1887, p. 10 Reviewing the concert, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' said of ''Blest Pair of Sirens'': The work was an immediate success, and was quickly taken up by other choirs. The following year it was given alongside Sullivan's ''

The Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'' at the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...

. Recognised as "one of the outstanding English choral works", the work has remained a standard in the choral repertory. Among its higher-profile performances in the 21st century were those by

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

forces at the

Last Night of the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

in September 2010, and by the choirs of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

and the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011."Music for the Wedding"
, Royal Wedding 2011, accessed 28 April 2013

Text

Parry set Milton's ode unchanged, except for modernising the poet's 17th-century spelling.

Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heav'n's joy, Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse, Wed your divine sounds, and mixed pow'r employ, Dead things with inbreathed sense able to pierce; And to our high-raised phantasy present That undisturbed song of pure content, Aye sung before the sapphire-coloured throne To Him that sits thereon, With saintly shout, and solemn jubilee, Where the bright Seraphim in burning row Their loud uplifted angel-trumpets blow, And the Cherubic host in thousand quires Touch their immortal harps of golden wires, With those just Spirits that wear victorious palms, Hymns devout and holy psalms Singing everlastingly: That we on earth with undiscording voice May rightly answer that melodious noise; As once we did, till disproportioned sin Jarred against nature's chime, and with harsh din Broke the fair music that all creatures made To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed In perfect diapason, whilst they stood In first obedience, and their state of good. O may we soon again renew that song, And keep in tune with Heav'n, till God ere long To His celestial concert us unite, To live with Him, and sing in endless morn of light.Notes to EMI CD CDM 5 65107 2 (1994)

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

Sources

* {{Authority control Compositions by Hubert Parry Choral compositions 1887 compositions