Stanford: Orchestral Song Cycles
Series: 19th and Early 20th Centuries Publisher: A-R Editions
Orchestral Song Cycles
Songs of the Sea, Op. 91, and Songs of the Fleet, Op. 117
Edited by James Brooks Kuykendall, Edison J. Kang
N073 Stanford: Orchestral Song Cycles
978-1-9872-0026-3
Full Score (2019)
11x17, xiii + 235 pp.
$680.00
In stock
SKU
N073
Charles Villiers Stanford wrote two cycles of songs for baritone with orchestra and chorus, setting nautical verses by the popular poet Henry Newbolt. From its premiere at the Leeds Musical Festival in October 1904, Songs of the Sea was a great success; Songs of the Fleet followed in 1910 and was transparently modeled on it (even quoting from the earlier work). Both works became very popular among amateur choral societies. Songs of the Sea was published in full score a year after its composition; it now appears in a critical edition for the first time in the present volume, which also includes the first publication of the orchestral version of Songs of the Fleet. Both works demonstrate Stanford’s mastery of orchestral technique and sureness of touch. Newbolt’s texts alternate between heroic and sentimental moods; Stanford responded with music that is dramatic and atmospheric—indeed, with some of the most remarkable textures of his whole oeuvre.
Songs of the Sea, Op. 91
No. 1. Drake’s Drum
No. 2. Outward Bound
No. 3. Devon, O Devon, in Wind and Rain
No. 4. Homeward Bound
No. 5. The Old Superb
Songs of the Fleet, Op. 117
No. 1. Sailing at Dawn
No. 2. The Song of the Sou’ Wester
No. 3. The Middle Watch
No. 4. The Little Admiral
No. 5. Fare Well
Appendix 1: 1904 Orchestration of Alternate Ending to “The Old Superb” (mm. 116A–127A)
Appendix 2: Original Ending to “Sailing at Dawn” (mm. 66a–77a)
Appendix 3: Original Ending to “Fare Well” (mm. 57a–75a)
Appendix 6: “The King’s Highway: A Song of the Sea”