Mainly Schubert with a hint of roses

Enjoy a few moments of tranquillity in the beautiful setting of St Marie's

The main composer in this programme of German, French and English songs is Schubert. He laid down the foundation of modern song-writing by bringing the piano into equal partnership with the voice. In the opening song, ‘Joy’, the piano sets the exuberant mood from the start. Similarly, the opening chords of ‘To Music’ establish reverence for the ‘holy art’. Ganymed is the young boy borne aloft to be the cupbearer of Zeus. The piano marks the course of his journey from his jaunty early morning walk in the springtime to his vanishing into the ether carried by the eagle.

This partnership of voice and piano carries through to the most recent composer in the programme, Roger Quilter. Often dubbed his greatest song, ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal’ contains one of Quilter’s trademarks, the assigning of a melody to the piano alone, while the voice pursues a separate path.

Performers

Elizabeth Charlesworth (soprano) and Hugh Finnigan (piano)

Programme

• Schubert (1797-1828): Seligkeit (Hölty) Romanza (Chezy) Haidenröslein (Goethe). An die Musik (Schober) Ganymed (Goethe)
• Schumann: Waldesgespräch (Eichendorff)
• Brahms (1833-1897): Sapphische Ode (Schmidt)
• Fauré (1845-1924): Clair de lune (Verlaine) Les roses d’Ispahan (Leconte de Lisle)
• Elgar (1857-1934): Song of Autumn (Adam Lindsay Gordon)
• Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Linden Lea (Barnes)
• Ireland (1879-1962): Dream Pedlary (Thomas Lovell Bedoes) Spring Sorrow (Rupert Brooke)
• Quilter (1877-1953): Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal (Tennyson)