''Songs and Proverbs of William Blake'' is a

song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

composed by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

(191376) in 1965 for baritone voice and piano and published as his Op. 74. The published score states that the words were "selected by

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

" from '' Proverbs of Hell'', ''

Auguries of Innocence "Auguries of Innocence" is a poem by William Blake, from a notebook of his known as the Pickering Manuscript.Encyclopædia Britannica Online.The Pickering Manuscript" online. accessed 13 December 2010. It is assumed to have been written in 1803, ...

'' and ''

Songs of Experience ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. Originally, Blake illuminated and bound ''Songs of Innocence'' and ''Songs of Experience'' separately. It was only in 1794 that Blake combined the t ...

'' by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

(17571827). It was premiered at the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festi ...

in June 1965 by the composer and the German baritone

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...

(19252012). The critic William Mann thought that the cycle would be judged "Britten's deepest and most subtle song-cycle"; and

John Warrack John Hamilton Warrack (born 9 February 1928) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. Career Born in London, Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack and Jacynth Mary Ellerton. He was educated at Winches ...

wrote in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' that Britten "has, I feel, here come to terms with the darkness and sense of cruelty that has always stalked his art". The cycle was recorded for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

by the original performers in December 1965 in the

Kingsway Hall The Kingsway Hall in Holborn, London, was the base of the West London Mission (WLM) of the Methodist Church, and eventually became one of the most important recording venues for classical music and film music. It was built in 1912 and demolish ...

, London with

John Culshaw John Royds Culshaw, OBE (28 May 192427 April 1980) was a pioneering English classical record producer for Decca Records. He produced a wide range of music, but is best known for masterminding the first studio recording of Wagner's ''Der Ring ...

as producer and Kenneth Wilkinson as engineer. A recording by

Gerald Finley Gerald Hunter Finley, (born January 30, 1960) is a Canadian bass-baritone opera singer. Early life Finley was born in Montreal and studied music at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and ...

(baritone) and

Julius Drake Julius Drake (born 5 April 1959) is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician. Biography Drake was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music; he made his professional debut at the Purcell ...

(piano) won the solo vocal

Gramophone Award The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. The British awards are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy ...

in 2011. The cycle is through-composed, without breaks, but divides into the following sections: # "Proverb 1" # "

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

" # "Proverb 2" # "

The Chimney Sweeper "The Chimney Sweeper" is the title of a poem by William Blake, published in two parts in ''Songs of Innocence'' in 1789 and ''Songs of Experience'' in 1794. The poem "The Chimney Sweeper" is set against the dark background of child labour that ...

" # "Proverb 3" # " A Poison Tree" # "Proverb 4" # "

The Tyger "The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Songs of Experience'' collection and rising to prominence in the Romanticism, romantic period. The poem is one of ...

" # "Proverb 5" # " The Fly" # "Proverb 6" # " Ah! Sun-flower" # "Proverb 7" # "Every Night and Every Morn" "Proverb 7" and "Every Night and Every Morn" are from ''Auguries of Innocence''; the other proverbs are from ''Proverbs of Hell'', and the other poems are from ''Songs of Experience''.

References

{{Authority control Song cycles by Benjamin Britten 1965 compositions Classical song cycles in English Musical settings of poems by William Blake