Speak, Music!
”Speak, Music!” is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1901 as his Op.41, No.2.
The words are from “The Song” in the poem “The Professor” by A. C. Benson.[1] It was dedicated to 'Mrs. Edward Speyer, Ridgehurst'.[2]
At about the same time Elgar wrote a song In the Dawn, as his Op. 41, No. 1, with words from the same poem. The two songs were first performed in the Queen's Hall on 26 October 1901.
Lyrics
SPEAK, MUSIC
- Speak, speak, music, and bring to me
- Fancies too fleet for me,
- Sweetness too sweet for me,
- Wake, wake, voices, and sing to me,
- Sing to me tenderly; bid me rest.
- Rest, Rest! ah, I am fain of it!
- Die, Hope! small was my gain of it!
- Song, [song] take thy parable,
- Whisper, whisper that all is well,
- Say, say that there tarrieth
- Something, something more true than death.
- Waiting to smile for me; bright and blest.
- Thrill, thrill, string: echo and play for me
- All, all that the poet, the priest cannot say for me;
- Soar, voice, soar, heavenwards, and pray for me,
- Wondering, wandering; bid me rest.
Recordings
- Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "Speak, Music" performed by Mark Wilde (tenor), with David Owen Norris (piano).
- Elgar: Complete Songs for Voice & Piano Amanda Roocroft (soprano), Reinild Mees (piano)
- The Songs of Edward Elgar SOMM CD 220 Catherine Wyn-Rogers (soprano) with Malcolm Martineau (piano), at Southlands College, London, April 1999
References
- ↑ A. C. Benson, "The Professor and Other Poems", London and New York, John Lane, 1900
- ↑ Mrs. Edward Speyer was Antonia Kufferath, the Belgian-born soprano, daughter of Alice Elgar's old piano teacher Ferdinand Kufferath and wife of Elgar's friend the wealthy banker Edward Speyer. 'Ridgehurst' was their home at Shenley, Hertfordshire. Not to be confused with Sir Edgar Speyer and Lady Speyer (the latter a professional violinist Leonora von Stosch)
- Banfield, Stephen, Sensibility and English Song: Critical studies of the early 20th century (Cambridge University Press, 1985) ISBN 0-521-37944-X
- Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0-19-315414-5
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