>
measured
and yet majestic progressions of chords.
Sidney Lanier
Far on in this interval
he is found planning for leisure to work out in romance
the story of that savage insurrection of the French peasantry,
which the Chronicles of Froissart had impressed upon his boyish imagination.
To ----.
The era of verse-writing with Mr. Lanier reopens in this dream
of the Virginia bay where poet's reveries and war's awakenings
continually alternated.
He presents it for a friend's criticism -- at the age of twenty-one --
in these words: "I send you a little poem which sang itself through me
the other day. 'Tis the first I've written in many years. "
Night.
This poem was not published by the writer and the simile of the second verse
was appropriated to `An Evening Song'. This partial repetition --
like that of portions of `The Tournament' and of `A Dream of June',
which occur in the `Psalm of the West' -- will be pardoned as affording
a favorable opportunity to observe Mr. Lanier's growth in artistic form.
The Centennial Cantata.
The Centennial Meditation of Columbia. 1776-1876. A Cantata.
<Musical Annotations, in angled brackets, precede each section.
>
measured
and yet majestic progressions of chords.
>
From this hundred-terraced height,
Sight more large with nobler light
Ranges down yon towering years.
Humbler smiles and lordlier tears
Shine and fall, shine and fall,
While old voices rise and call
Yonder where the to-and-fro
Weltering of my Long-Ago
Moves about the moveless base
Far below my resting-place.
<Chorus: the sea and the winds mingling their voices with human sighs. >
Mayflower, Mayflower, slowly hither flying,
Trembling westward o'er yon balking sea,
Hearts within `Farewell dear England' sighing,
Winds without `But dear in vain' replying,
Gray-lipp'd waves about thee shouted, crying
"No! It shall not be! "
<Quartette: a meagre and despairing minor. >
Jamestown, out of thee --
Plymouth, thee -- thee, Albany --
Winter cries, `Ye freeze:' away!
Fever cries, `Ye burn:' away!
Hunger cries, `Ye starve:' away!
Vengeance cries, `Your graves shall stay! '
<Full chorus: return of the `motive' of the second movement,
but worked up with greater fury, to the climax of the shout
at the last line. >
Then old Shapes and Masks of Things,
Framed like Faiths or clothed like Kings
Ghosts of Goods once fleshed and fair,
Grown foul Bads in alien air --
War, and his most noisy lords,
Tongued with lithe and poisoned swords --
Error, Terror, Rage and Crime,
All in a windy night of time
Cried to me from land and sea,
`No! Thou shalt not be! '
<A rapid and intense whisper-chorus. >
Hark!
he is found planning for leisure to work out in romance
the story of that savage insurrection of the French peasantry,
which the Chronicles of Froissart had impressed upon his boyish imagination.
To ----.
The era of verse-writing with Mr. Lanier reopens in this dream
of the Virginia bay where poet's reveries and war's awakenings
continually alternated.
He presents it for a friend's criticism -- at the age of twenty-one --
in these words: "I send you a little poem which sang itself through me
the other day. 'Tis the first I've written in many years. "
Night.
This poem was not published by the writer and the simile of the second verse
was appropriated to `An Evening Song'. This partial repetition --
like that of portions of `The Tournament' and of `A Dream of June',
which occur in the `Psalm of the West' -- will be pardoned as affording
a favorable opportunity to observe Mr. Lanier's growth in artistic form.
The Centennial Cantata.
The Centennial Meditation of Columbia. 1776-1876. A Cantata.
<Musical Annotations, in angled brackets, precede each section.
>
From this hundred-terraced height,
Sight more large with nobler light
Ranges down yon towering years.
Humbler smiles and lordlier tears
Shine and fall, shine and fall,
While old voices rise and call
Yonder where the to-and-fro
Weltering of my Long-Ago
Moves about the moveless base
Far below my resting-place.
<Chorus: the sea and the winds mingling their voices with human sighs. >
Mayflower, Mayflower, slowly hither flying,
Trembling westward o'er yon balking sea,
Hearts within `Farewell dear England' sighing,
Winds without `But dear in vain' replying,
Gray-lipp'd waves about thee shouted, crying
"No! It shall not be! "
<Quartette: a meagre and despairing minor. >
Jamestown, out of thee --
Plymouth, thee -- thee, Albany --
Winter cries, `Ye freeze:' away!
Fever cries, `Ye burn:' away!
Hunger cries, `Ye starve:' away!
Vengeance cries, `Your graves shall stay! '
<Full chorus: return of the `motive' of the second movement,
but worked up with greater fury, to the climax of the shout
at the last line. >
Then old Shapes and Masks of Things,
Framed like Faiths or clothed like Kings
Ghosts of Goods once fleshed and fair,
Grown foul Bads in alien air --
War, and his most noisy lords,
Tongued with lithe and poisoned swords --
Error, Terror, Rage and Crime,
All in a windy night of time
Cried to me from land and sea,
`No! Thou shalt not be! '
<A rapid and intense whisper-chorus. >
Hark!
