Journeys in a Foreign Land
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Far in a Western Brookland and Goodnight are two songs for baritone and piano, setting poems by A. E. Housman. They are designed to frame Schumann's In der Fremde from Liederkreis, Op. 39, with all three songs performed attacca to form a continuous musical journey. The songs explore themes of nostalgia, longing and death, drawing inspiration from Schumann's musical language alongside contemporary English song composers including Judith Bingham, Judith Weir and Richard Rodney Bennett.
Far in a Western Brookland reimagines the ascending arpeggios of Schumann's song, using contrasting tempi, symmetrical structures and the resonances of silently depressed piano keys to evoke a longing for the past. Goodnight develops the descending arpeggio heard at the end of In der Fremde, exploring augmented harmonies, hexatonic scales and chromatic textures as the music turns towards themes of death and peace.
The songs were premiered by Eoin Jenkins (baritone) and Evie Perfect (piano) at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, as part of Jenkins's final recital for his Cambridge Music Tripos.
Text
No. 1: Far in a Western Brookland (Text: A. E. Housman)
Far in a western brookland
That bred me long ago
The poplars stand and tremble
By pools I used to know.
There, in the windless night-time,
The wanderer, marvelling why,
Halts on the bridge to hearken
How soft the poplars sigh.
He hears: no more remembered
In fields where I was known,
Here I lie down in London
And turn to rest alone.
There, by the starlit fences,
The wanderer halts and hears
My soul that lingers sighing
About the glimmering weirs
- Text Source: Poetry Foundation
No. 2: In der Fremde (Music: Robert Schumann, Text: Joseph von Eichendorff)
No. 3: Goodnight (Text: A. E. Housman)
Goodnight; ensured release,
Imperishable peace,
Have these for yours,
While sea abides, and land,
And earth's foundations stand,
and heaven endures.
When earth's foundations flee,
nor sky nor land nor sea
At all is found
Content you, let them burn:
It is not your concern;
Sleep on, sleep sound.
- Text Source: All Poetry
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