The lamplighter

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight.

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) , "The lamplighter", from A Child's Garden of Verses, published 1885

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Ethel Crowningshield , "The lamplighter", published 1910 [voice and piano], from Robert Louis Stevenson Songs, no. ?
by Henry John Edwards (1854-1933) , "The lamplighter", published 1913. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Sven Lekberg (1899-1984) , "The lamplighter", published 1959. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Daniel Gregory Mason (1873-1953) , "The lamplighter", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Five Children's Songs, no. ?
by Roger Quilter (1877-1953) , "The lamplighter", op. 5 (Four child songs) no. 2.
by Alec Rowley (1892-1958) , "The lamplighter", published <<1967. [unison voices and piano]
by Thomas Griffen (Griffin?) Shepard (1848-1905) , "The lamplighter", published 1901 [voice and piano], from A cycle of songs, no. ?
by Eleanor Smith , "The lamplighter", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Song Pictures, no. ?
by Ronald Stevenson (1928-) , "The lamplighter", 1961 [medium voice and piano], from Four Robert Louis Stevenson Songs, no. ?
by John Brown Russell Whitfield , "The lamplighter", published 1958. [unison voices and piano]
by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (1931-) , "The lamplighter", published 1968 [high voice and piano], from From a child's garden, no. 10.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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