"A Birthday" [John McLeod]

"A Birthday" [John McLeod]

First line of lyrics: My heart, my heart, my heart is like a singing bird

Part of: "Peacocks with a hundred eyes"

McLeod, John; music (Scottish, born 1934)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

1984 [publication]

Edinburgh: Griffin Music

genre: song|song cycle

solo: baritone|counter-tenor|mezzo-soprano

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 6/8

origin: United Kingdom

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Place in the larger work: The fifth song of five in the song cycle called "Peacocks with a hundred eyes" which includes 1. "Music when soft voices die" (Percy Bysshe Shelley); 2. "Song" (Christina Rossetti); 3. "Remember" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "Echo" (Christina Rossetti); 5. "A birthday" (Christina Rossetti).

Notes about the text: The text of the poem "Music when soft voices die" is interspersed throughout the song cycle: the first two lines open the song cycle, then the third and fourth lines follow "Song," the fifth and sixth follow "Echo" and the seventh and eighth follow "Remember."

Composition history: "Commissioned by James Littlejohn in memory of his mother."

Tempo markings: "Vivace"; quarter note = 132

Performance instructions: The solo may be sung by a counter-tenor, mezzo-soprano, or baritone.

Format 1: musical score

15 pages (pp. 39-53)

Other data reference(s): Record for "A birthday / John McLeod ; [text by] Christina Rossetti ; [in Peacocks with a hundred eyes : song-cycle for counter-tenor (or mezzo-soprano or baritone) and piano]. Royal College of Music London, https://rcm.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=235577&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20a%20birthday%20rossetti#. Accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
Record for "Peacocks with a hundred eyes : song-cycle for counter-tenor (or mezzo-soprano or baritone) and piano / music by John McLeod ; words by Shelley and Christina Rossetti." Royal College of Music London, https://rcm.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=235568. Accessed 14 Mar. 2019.

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score: Royal College of Music Library, London

Record: CRM-birthday-mcleod

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