First line of lyrics: Come to me in the silence of the night
Place in the larger work: The third song of three in a song cycle called "Three Rosetti Songs," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "When I Am Dead, My Dearest (Song)"; 2. "Remember"; 3. "'Echo'".
Composition history: "Three Rosetti Songs were composed in 1994"
Performance history: "first sung at the Holbourne Museum, Bath, in September 1994 by Georgina Anne Colwell accompanied by Nigel Foster"
Wegener, Margaret; music (English, 1920-2020)
Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)
Cataloguer: Laurel Richardson, University of Ottawa
Musical score: Northwestern University Library, Evanston
1994 [composition]; 1997 [publication] [copyright]
"© 1997 Margaret Wegener, Llangollen, Wales | Da Capo Music Ltd. | Manchester, England"
The Christina Rossetti in Music project website is hosted in Canada at the University of Ottawa Library, and we aim to comply with Canadian copyright laws. If you believe we have violated Canadian copyright law, please contact us at christinarossettimusic@uottawa.ca. The Christina Rossetti in Music project is strictly not for profit and intended for research and educational purposes only.
4 pages (pp. 17-10); song cycle performance time appox. 10 minutes
"'No, Thank You, John'" [Norman Mathews]
First line of lyrics: I never said I love you
initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats
other version 1 - solo: medium-high voice
other version 1 - instrumentation: piano|flute|cello
other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats
Place in the larger work: The fourth song of five in the song cycle called "Rossetti Songs," which includes 1. "May"; 2. "A Summer Wish"; 3. "When I Am Dead, My Dearest"; 4. "'No, Thank You, John'"; 5. "Sleeping At Last."
Composition history: "I was directed toward Christina Rossetti’s poetry by a sometime collaborator: the poet Patty Seyburn, who is a professor at Cal State University at Long Beach. She thought that Rossetti’s lyricism would marry well with my music. I read through her complete works and selected those poems that moved me emotionally and elicited musical ideas. I arranged the five poems so that they presented a variety of moods and organized them so that they would provide a dramatic arc. I was struck by her penchant toward the subject of death and therefore made her final poem the last work in my cycle" (Mathews).
Performance instructions: "Scherzando" (version with piano, flute, cello accompaniment)
Performance history: "The piano-vocal version was performed at the Source Song Festival in Minneapolis [in 2015]" (Mathews).
Recordings: Mathews, Norman. "'No, Thank You, John.'" Rapport. Performance by Melissa Manseau, soprano, Paul Dykstra, piano, Beth Pearson, cello, Jennifer Yeaton-Paris, flute. Navona, 2010.
Notes: Program Notes: "The songs move inexorably toward death, Rossetti’s principal theme throughout her work and for which she implores us to sing no sad songs for her. The cycle also follows a seasonal arc from the height of spring—and even this season left her 'old and cold and grey' — to the final bows of summer, when even the gusty blasts that presage autumn cannot disturb her dreamless sleep. The pieces are written essentially in a tonal idiom, colored with passages of disquieting dissonance. The exception is “No, Thank You, John,” which, except for a waltz-like interlude, is mostly an atonal counterpoint to her comically mordant rejection of a persistent suitor. The final song, 'Sleeping at Last,' which is the last poem she wrote, is melodically and harmonically the most simple and most tonal, in reflection of her final repose."
Mathews, Norman; music (American, born 1942)
Other data reference(s): Mathews, Norman. "Rossetti Music." Received by Mary Arseneau. 21 Jan 2021. "Works." Norman Mathews, https://normanmathews.com/list-of-music-and-theater-works-of-norman-mathews/. Accessed 19 May 2022.
Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa
musical score with piano accompaniment: Norman Mathews
musical score with piano, flute, cello accompaniment: Norman Mathews
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "'No, Thank You, John'" (chamber version). New Music U.S.A., http://library.newmusicusa.org/library/composition.aspx?CompositionID=344070. Accessed 20 May 2022.
2008 [composition]; 2009 [copyright] [publication]
"© Copyright 2009 by Ebury Press. | Copyright for all countries. All rights reserved." The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Norman Mathews.
8 pages (pp. 17-24); performance time 2 minutes and 28 seconds
File(s): CRM-nothankyou-mathews-piano.pdf
"(When I'm Dead) Sing No Sad Songs" [The Kruger Brothers]
First line of lyrics: When I'm dead, my dearest
Rossetti poem(s): "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest")
Recordings: "(When I'm Dead) Sing No Sad Songs." Access All Areas. Performance by Jens Kruger, vocals and banjo, Uwe Kruger, vocals and guitar, Joel Landsberg, vocals and bass. Blue Martin Records, 1996. "When I'm Dead My Dearest." Between the Notes. Performance by Jens Kruger, vocals and banjo, Uwe Kruger, vocals and guitar, Joel Landsberg, vocals and bass. Double Time Music, 2009.
Notes: The setting was re-released as "When I'm Dead My Dearest" in 2009.
performance time 3 minutes and 47 seconds
Record: CRM-songwheniamdead-kruger-kruger
"A Baby Is A Harmless Thing" [Stephen DeCesare]
First line of lyrics: A baby is a harmless thing
Part of: "Love Came Down At Christmas: A Christmas Musical Presentation"
genre: musical theatre|choral music|Christmas music|sacred music
Place in the larger work: The eighth of nine songs, settings of Rossetti poems, in the musical called "Love Came Down At Christmas: A Christmas Musical Presentation," which includes 1. "Earth Grown Old"; 2. "This Advent Moon Shines Cold and Clear"; 3. "Behold, the Bridegroom Comes"; 4. "Rise at the Last Trumpet Call"; 5. "The Shepherds had an Angel"; 6. "In the Bleak Mid-winter"; 7. "That First Christmas Sight"; 8. "A Baby is a Harmless Thing"; 9. "Love Came Down at Christmas."
Performance instructions: "As a lullaby." The musical in its entirety is scored for solos, SATB, violin, oboe, and tubular bells with piano accompaniment. In addition to the songs it includes readings and recitations.
DeCesare, Stephen; music (American, born 1969)
"Love Came Down at Christmas: A Christmas Musical Presentation (SATB)." J.W. Pepper, https://www.jwpepper.com/Love-Came-Down-at-Christmas%3A-A-Christmas-Musical-Presentation-%28SATB%29/10939432.item#/submit. Accessed 11 July 2022.
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Love Came Down at Christmas: A Christmas Musical Presentation (SATB)." J.W. Pepper, https://www.jwpepper.com/Love-Came-Down-at-Christmas%3A-A-Christmas-Musical-Presentation-%28SATB%29/10939432.item#/submit. Accessed 11 July 2022.
"©2018 Exultet Music | exultetmusic.com | * exsultetmusic.com | All Rights Reserved"
"A Better Resurrection" [Craig Courtney]
First line of lyrics: I have no wit, no words, no tears
instrumentation: a cappella|piano (for rehearsal only)
Rossetti poem(s): "A Better Resurrection"
Notes about the text: In the setting, the words in line 15 of the poem "Yet rise it shall" is reordered to "Yet it shall rise", the words "till it be" at the end of line 22 are omitted, and line 23 "A royal cup for Him my King" is reduced to "for my King".
Composition history: "The poetry of Christina Rossetti has resonated with me since childhood. I value her beauty of language, mastery of metaphor and depth of emotion. It is her honesty, though, that touches me most. Rossetti's faith is not one of naive idealism. Rather, it springs from a personal struggle with her humanity, doubt and pain. | As I have lived with the words of A Better Resurrection, I have come to love their richness and color. My goal in composition was to let these words dictate my musical choices: where a phrase needed to rise or fall, where dissonance or resolution was appropriate or where simplicity should lead to complexity. There are many words that lend themselves to text painting as well: words such as alone, quicken, brief, rise and broken are just a few. | Each stanza of the poem describes aspects of nature which demosntrate death and rebirth and each stanza ends with a plea: O Jesus quicken me, O Jesus rise in me and O Jesus drink of me. It is here that Rossetti moves beyond her struggle and speaks of the relationship between the Infinite and the finite, the Creator and the created. It is through her struggle and its resolution that I find my own faith strengthened."
Performance instructions: "As a prayer, very freely"
Recordings: "A Better Resurrection." Beckenhorst Press Inc., https://beckenhorstpress.com/a-better-resurrection/. Accessed 10 May 2023.
Dedication: "Written for the 2009 Spring Tour of Capital University Chapel Choir, | Dr. Lynda Hasseler, Director"
Cataloguer: Melissa Poon and Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "A Better Resurrection." Beckenhorst Press Inc., https://beckenhorstpress.com/a-better-resurrection/. Accessed 10 May 2023.
"© Copyright 2009 by Beckenhorst Press, Inc. All rights reserved."
9 pages; performance time 3 minutes and 20 seconds
other version 1 - chorus: women’s SSAA chorus
other version 1 - instrumentation: piano
Composition history: "Commissioned by The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City." "I have been a big fan of the poetry of Christina Rossetti since I discovered her in college. Her words, to me, have an innate music to them, and it has been a relatively easy task to uncover that music and set it down on paper. I have often said that some poems are so complete in their composition that the addition of music would get in the way of the work the poem does itself. By contrast, many of Rossetti’s poems are filled with emptiness and longing. They cry out for vocalization, for connection, and it is my hope that my music can fill those holes without compromising the poet’s original intentions. | In “A Better Resurrection” I have taken what is basically an A-A-A structure and tried to vary the texture of each section so the sense of yearning grows throughout the piece, giving it a forward momentum. One key example of this thrust is the addition of the humming and “ah” sections. Note that the first thing we hear from the singers (m. 4) is a very closed sound, a “hmm” on a very tight interval, a major second. The next time we hear it (m. 40), as the singers have first asked for strength, the harmonies have begun to open up. As the music and text progress together, the harmonies get bigger and more open (m. 78), until finally at the end (m. 126), we have only the open fifth, the most vulnerable and open of harmonies, as the singers look heavenward for their own redemption. | Originally conceived as a piece for SSAA ensemble, I am happy now to present the SATB version. I wish especially to acknowledge the Reverend Jay Wegman, formerly of The Cathedral of St. John The Divine, and to thank him for his support of this piece and of my work in general." ("A Better Resurrection").
Tempo markings: dotted quarter note = 70-72
Performance history: "Premiered [at St. John the Divine, New York City] on June 17, 2002."
Recordings: "A Better Resurrection: for SSAA choir." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Joel Fram, conductor, Kate Chapman, Jenni Frost, Laura Griffith, Suzanne Adams, Kate Chisholm, Bambi Jones, Leenya Rideout, Michelle Miller, vocals, Georgia Stitt, piano. Recorded at M&I Studios, New York City, 2002. SoundCloud, https://soundcloud.com/georgiastitt/a-better-resurrection-for-ssaa. Accessed 25 May 2022.
Stitt, Georgia; music (American, born 1972)
Other data reference(s): "A Better Resurrection." Georgia Stitt, https://georgiastitt.com/music-library/better-resurrection/. Accessed 25 May 2022. "A Better Resurrection." GIA Publications, Inc. https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/a-better-resurrection-print-ww1358. Accessed 25 May 2022.
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "A Better Resurrection." GIA Publications, Inc. https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/a-better-resurrection-print-ww1358. Accessed 25 May 2022.
"Copyright © 2006 Walton Music Corporation | International Copyright secured | Made in U.S.A. | All rights reserved | www.waltonmusic.com"
"A Better Resurrection" [Jason A. Heald]
First line of lyrics: I have no wit, no work, no tears
Part of: "Five Settings by Christina Rossetti"
genre: song cycle|art song (lied)|song|sacred music
Place in the larger work: The fourth song of five in a song cycle called "Five Settings by Christina Rossetti," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "Who has seen the wind"; 2. "Sleeping at last"; 3. "When I am dead, my dearest"; 4. "A better resurrection"; 5. "A daughter of eve".
Notes about the text: The only deviation to the poem is in the first stanza, line 6, where "everlasting" is replaced by "lasting" in the song.
Recordings: "Five Settings by Christina Rossetti." Performance by Juth Ginelle Heald. YouTube, uploaded by Call of the Wild, 7 May 2020, youtu.be/KLwW16BiiC0. J. W. Pepper, www.jwpepper.com/Five-Settings-by-Christina-Rossetti/11208247.item#/submit. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021. [Songs are performed in order 1, 3, 2, 5, 4]
Heald, Jason A.; music (American, born 1958)
Cataloguer: Blake Fong and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Five Settings by Christina Rossetti." J. W. Pepper, https://www.jwpepper.com/Five-Settings-by-Christina-Rossetti/11208247.item#/submit. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.
Oakland: Call of the Wild Publishing, Jason A. Heald
5 pages; complete song cycle performance time 12 minutes and 24 seconds
First line of lyrics: It's a year almost that I have not seen her
Performance instructions: "Freely like a Spiritual." "It features a Baritone and Soprano soloist throughout is a short 2 minute piece in the style of a Spiritual" ("A Bird Song – SATB Choir and soloists").
Performance history: "This was performed at several 'pop-up' performances by the Chorus of Northern Sinfonia in July 2022" (Lander).
Other data reference(s): Lander, Fiona. "Re: Christina Rossetti in Music." Received by Mary Arseneau. 27 July 2022. "A Bird Song – SATB Choir and soloists." Fiona Lander, https://fionalander.com/a-bird-song-satb-choir-plus-soprano-and-baritone-soloist/. Accessed 5 August 2022.
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "A Bird Song – SATB Choir and soloists." Fiona Lander, https://fionalander.com/a-bird-song-satb-choir-plus-soprano-and-baritone-soloist/. Accessed 10 August 2022.
performance time 2 minutes and 3 seconds
"A Birthday / Ein Geburtstag." "A Birthday" [Frederic H. Cowen]
First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird / Mein Herz ist wie ein Vögelein
other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: two flats
other version 2 - instrumentation: piano
other version 2 - initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats
Tempo markings: "Poco allegretto ma appassionato"; quarter note = 72
Performance instructions: The solo may be sung by either a soprano or tenor.
Recordings: Cowen, Frederic H., et al., "A birthday : my love is like a singing bird /​ F. H. Cowen. The cuckoo /​ [music by] Liza Lehmann." Performance by Rosina Buckman, soprano with orchestra. Columbia Record, 1900. Trove, National Library of Australia, https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/23973534. Accessed 28 Jan. 2019.
Dedication: "To my friend William Shakespeare" (English version)
Notes: Two versions of this piece in D flat (five flats) have been identified, one with lyrics in both English and German, and one with only English lyrics. Another version in B flat (two flats) has been located in British Library (Ives DM105).
Cowen, Frederic H. [Hymen]; music (English, born in Jamaica, 1852-1935)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4212; Ives DM105
Reference: Gooch, Bryan N.S. and David S. Thatcher. Musical Settings of Early and Mid-Victorian Literature: A Catalogue. New York: Garland, 1979.
Reference: Ives, Maura. Christina Rossetti: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2011.
Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa
musical score in D flat in German and English: University of Maine, https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4816/
musical score in D flat in English: Cowen, Frederic H. "A Birthday." Twelve Songs, Joseph Williams, 1892, pp. 46-49. Royal Academy of Music Library, London
London: Joseph Williams; New York: Edward Schuberth & Co.
File(s): CRM-birthday-cowen-dflat-ger-eng.pdf; CRM-birthday-cowen-dflat-eng.pdf
"A birthday / Ein Geburtstag" [Albert Mallinson]
First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird / Mein Herz ist wie ein Wonnetraum
Notes about the text: After the complete text of the poem is sung, the lines "My heart is like a singing bird / because my love is come to me" are added at the end of the song.
Notes: Included in the song collection called "Christina Rossetti's Songs" which includes 1. "What Comes?"; 2. "A Birthday"; 3. "Pastime"; 4. "There is a Budding Morrow in Midnight"; 5. "Boy Johnny"; 6. "Luscious and Sorrowful"; 7. "Valentine"; 8. "The Sunrise Wakes the Lark to Sing"; 9. "The Way of the World"; 10. "The Winter of My Year."
Mallinson, Albert; music (English, 1870-1946)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4223
Reference: Ezust, Emily. The LiederNet Archive. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/index.html
musical score: Royal Academy of Music Library, London
Leipzig: Wilhelm Hansen, Musik-Forlag; Oakville: The Frederick Harris Music Co. Ltd.
1900 [composition]; 1901 [publication] [copyright]
First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird
Performance history: A note on the score mentions a performance: "Broadcast 15th March 1952 3LO by Mary Lilley - Marjorie Smith accompanist."
Phillips, Beatrice; music (American, 1915-2005)
Other data reference(s): Record for "A birthday song [music] / words by Christina Rossetti ; music by Beatrice Phillips." University of Melbourne Library, http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au:80/record=b2702236~S30. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.
musical score: University of Melbourne Library, Melbourne, Australia
Notes about the text: Burleigh substitutes "thickest fruit" for "thickset fruit."
Performance instructions: This solo is for mezzo-soprano or baritone.
Notes: The second song of three in the song collection called "Three Songs" which includes 1. "If you but knew" ("Translated from the French); 2. "A Birthday Song" (Christina Rossetti); 3. "Life" (John Boyle O'Reilly).
Burleigh, H.T. [Henry Thacker]; music (American, 1866-1949)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4209; Ives DM158
musical score: Burleigh, H.T. "A Birthday Song." Three Songs, G. Schirmer, 1898, pp. 3-5. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Place in the larger work: The first song of four in the song cycle called "Come back in dreams," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "A birthday"; 2. "Song"; 3. "Echo"; 4. "Spring."
Self, Adrian; music (English, born 1952)
Other data reference(s): Record for "Come back in dreams : four songs of Christina Rossetti for high voice and piano." Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=oxfaleph015620543&context=L&vid=SOLO&search_scope=LSCOP_ALL&tab=local&lang=en_US. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.
Other data reference(s): Record for "A birthday : for SSAA a cappella." Library of Congress, https://lccn.loc.gov/2007563195. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.
New York: E.B. Marks Music; Milwaukee: Hal Leonard
Part of: "Three Songs for Soprano with Pianoforte"
Place in the larger work: The third song of three in the song cycle called "Three Songs," settings of Rossetti poems, which includes 1. "When I am dead, my Dearest"; 2. "The Sunrise wakes the Lark to sing"; 3. "A Birthday."
Whiting, Arthur; music (American, 1861-1936)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4232
musical score: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
Performance instructions: The singer is instructed to sing "Gaily."
Notes: A note on the score indicates that the piece was composed at "49 Bateman Street, Cambridge."
Naylor, Bernard; music (English, 1907-1986)
Other data reference(s): Record for "A birthday." Cornell University Library, https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/3156075. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.
musical score: Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York
Composition history: Daubney has provided Christina Rossetti in Music Project with details about the composition history of this piece. "I recalled this - until now unwritten - setting I composed at the keyboard when I was about 16. It was quite impractical to sing as it was in a high-lying C# minor and started on a ridiculous high A! Yesterday I decided to transpose it, write it down with an accompaniment other than that I used with my 16-year old keyboard incorporation of the melody. Here is the result" ("A Birthday"). In another correspondence, Daubney wrote, "Years ago [. . .] I wrote [this song] at the keyboard. It has been in my mind ever since c. 1946 but I had not committed it to paper until my recent association with Mary Arseneau of Ottawa University whose research into settings of Christina Rossetti urged me to write it down – largely as it had stayed in my head all those years. It has now joined c. 12 others I sent her for her archive. I hope you’ll enjoy its youthful character" ("August Greetings").
Daubney, Brian Blyth; music (English, born 1929)
Other data reference(s): Daubney, Brian Blyth. "A Birthday." Received by Mary Arseneau, 3 June 2019. Daubney, Brian Blyth. "August Greetings." Received by Mary Arseneau, 27 July 2019.
This score is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score appears on the website by kind permission of Brian Blyth Daubney.
Tempo markings: "Andante cantabile"; quarter note = 76
Performance history: Performed on March 30, 2008 by Karen Staniland, Hilary Nobes, Bryony Jagger and Geoffrey Hinds at the Auckland Leider Group ("A Birthday").
Jagger, Bryony; music (New Zealand, born in England, born 1948)
Other data reference(s): "A Birthday." SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, https://www.sounz.org.nz/works/19191. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019. Record for "A birthday : for soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and piano / Bryony Jagger ; words by Christina Rossetti." National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/records/38471145. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "A Birthday." SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, https://www.sounz.org.nz/works/19191. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
Tempo markings: "Estatico"; quarter note = about 90
Notes: The second song of three in the song collection "Three Lyrics by Christina Rossetti" which includes 1. "The lamb and the dove"; 2. "A birthday"; 3. "Gone were but the winter."
Gibbs, C. Armstrong [Cecil]; music (English, 1889-1960)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4215
Other data reference(s): Record for "Three lyrics by Christina Rossetti. No. 2, A birthday." Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=oxfaleph015114864&context=L&vid=SOLO&search_scope=LSCOP_ALL&tab=local&lang=en_US. Accessed 28 Jan. 2019. Record for "Three lyrics by Christina Rossetti. Op.131,no.1-3. [Songs]. 1. The lamb and the dove. 2. A birthday. 3. Gone were but the winter." Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=oxfaleph019953946&context=L&vid=SOLO&search_scope=LSCOP_ALL&tab=local&lang=en_US. Accessed 28 Jan. 2019.
musical score: Sibley Music Library, Rochester, New York
"Copyright 1953, by the Oxford University Press, London"
Tempo markings: "Antante mosso"; quarter note - 120
Ferrari, Carlotta; music (Italian, born 1975)
Reference: IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, http://imslp.org/
Other data reference(s): Record for "A Birthday (Carlotta Ferrari)." Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Carlotta_Ferrari). Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Carlotta_Ferrari)
"Copyright: Choral Public Domain Library"
Notes about the text: In the second line of the second stanza the word "vair" is replaced with "rare."
Tempo markings: "Allegro, non troppo, ma con brio"
Dedication: "To the Mac Dowell Club Chorus, Boston"
Manney, Charles Fonteyn; music (American, 1872-1951)
Other data reference(s): Record for "Philomelian three-part chorus collection : for women's voices." University of Toronto Libraries, https://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?6907809&uuid=8a86eece-8d63-4357-88bf-8a429316bbec. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: University of Toronto Robarts Library, Toronto
sextet: two altos, two tenors, one baritone, and one bass
Tempo markings: "With a light flowing touch"; quarter note = 70
West, Charles; music (English, born 1945)
Other data reference(s): "A Birthday." Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Charles_West). Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Charles_West)
Place in the larger work: The seventh song of 35 in the song cycle called "Flores de Mi Primavera" which includes settings of the following poems in their original languages: 1. "The moon" (Percy Shelley); 2. "Annabel Lee" (Edgar Allan Poe); 3. "Chanson d'Automne" (Paul Verlaine); 4. "Serenade" (Paul Verlaine); 5. "Am Rhein, am heiligen Strome . . ." (Heinrich Heine); 6. "Sonnet, Quand vous serez bien vieille" (Pierre de Ronsard); 7. "A birthday" (Christina Rossetti); 8. "El Amante Despechado" (Anonimo); 9. "There is a lady sweet and kind" (Anonymous); 10. "Das Muhlrad" (unknown); 11. "Love's secret" (William Blake); 12. "Du hast Diamanten und Perlen (Heimkehr nr. 62)" (Heinrich Heine); 13. "Tiefe Wasser" (unknown); 14. "Du bist wie eine Blume" (Heinrich Heine); 15. "To Electra" (Robert Herrick); 16. "Requiem" (Robert Louis Stevenson); 17. "The Listeners" (Walter de la Mare); 18. "Il pleure dans mon coeur" (Paul Verlaine); 19. "Ariel's song" (William Shakespeare); 20. "Song" (Laurence Housman); 21. "Music, when soft voices die" (Percy Shelley); 22. "A red, red rose" (Robert Burns); 23. "Helen of Kirconnell" (Anonymous); 24. "The call" (Anonymous); 25. "The green singer" (John Shaw Neilson); 26. "Song, She's somewhere" (Richard Le Gallienne); 27. "Love's coming" (John Shaw Neilson); 28. "The world's wanderers" (Percy Shelley); 29. "Wo?" (Heinrich Heine); 30. "Beauty bathing" (Anthony Munday); 31. "Stanzas for music" (Lord Byron); 32. "A child's grace" (Robert Herrick); 33. "Bist du wirklich mir so feindlich? (Heimkehr nr. 76)" (Heinrich Heine); 34. "Edward, Edward!" (Anonymous); 35. "Why?" (Bliss Carman).
Lander, Cyril Bertram; music (English, active in New Zealand, 1904-1989)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4218
Other data reference(s): Record for "Cyril Bertram Lander." The National Archives, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/94953fa1-65ac-44e3-95b7-9cc86d948af2. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019. Record for "Flores de Mi Primavera : Songs." Worldcat, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/497916034. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019. Record for "Lander, Cyril Bertram : Flores de mi primavera [for voice and piano]." National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23173534. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.
musical score: University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Part of: "Three Love Poems of Christina Rossetti"
Place in the larger work: The third song of three in the song cycle called "Three Love Poems of Christina Rossetti" which includes 1. "Song ('When I am dead')"; 2. "Grown and flown"; 3. "A Birthday."
Performance history: Performed at the National Portrait Gallery on February 4th, 1995 by Arion, soprano Andrée Back and harpist Brian Davis, as part of a recital of settings of poems by Christina Rossetti called "Sing no sad songs for me" ("Sing no sad songs for me").
Other data reference(s): "Sing no sad songs for me." National Portrait Gallery, 1995. [courtesy of Lorraine Janzen Kooistra]
other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: two sharps
Dedication: "For Charles Tilson Chowne."
Scott, Cyril; music (English, 1879-1970)
In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4229
musical score: University of Rochester Library, http://hdl.handle.net/1802/23369. Accessed 8 Jan. 2017.
London: Elkin & Co.; New York: G. Ricordi & Co.