"A Birthday" [Lord Henry Somerset]

"A Birthday" [Lord Henry Somerset]

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

Somerset, Henry Richard Charles, Lord; music (English, 1849-1932)

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

1895 [publication]

London: Chappel & Co.

genre: song

solo: voice

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: three flats

initial time signature: 3/8

other version 1 - solo: voice

other version 1 - instrumentation: piano

other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: one flat

origin: United Kingdom

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Composition history: The score states that "The words printed by kind permission of Messrs. MacMillan & Co." "Probably composed much earlier [than publication date]. Somerset [...] had contacted [Christina Rossetti] in 1880 for permission to publish settings of one or more of her songs. [Christina Rossetti] initially assented, but [Dante Gabriel Rossetti] convinced her to withdraw her consent because (as [William Michael Rossetti] wrote in his diary) 'there was not long ago a terrible scandal (but G. did not give C. any details of this) regarding Lord H. & a son of Mrs. Dalrymple' (WMRD 9 September 1880; see also Letters 2: 248)" (Ives DM129).

Tempo markings: "Moderato."

Notes: "No.1 in E flat | No. 2 in F"

Format 1: musical score

4 pages

In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4230; Ives DM129

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 and Katherine Rainville, University of Ottawa

musical score: British Library, London

Record: CRM-birthday-somerset

File(s): CRM-birthday-somerset-Eflat.pdf; CRM-birthday-somerset-F.pdf

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