Song ‑‑ The owl

When cats run home and light is come
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,
And rarely smells the new-mown hay,
And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch
Twice or thrice his round-e-lay;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.

by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) , "Song -- The owl", from Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, published 1830

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

by Herbert Kennedy Andrews (1904-1965) , "When cats run home", published 1945 [high voice and piano], from Two Songs, no. ?
by Johan Backer-Lunde (1874-1958) , "The owl", op. 42 no. 2. [voice and orchestra]
by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-) , "The owl", published 1966 [voice or unison voices and piano], from The Aviary, no. 2.
by William Richard Bexfield (1824-1853) , "The owl", published 1881. [voice and piano]
by A. (Alfred or Arthur?) Herbert Brewer (1865-1928) , "When cats run home", published 1927. [SS chorus and piano]
by Sir Ernest Bullock (1890-1979) , "When cats run home", published 1961. [SS chorus and piano]
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) , "The owl", published 1962. [SAB chorus and piano]
by Frank Chapple , "The owl", published 1928. [SS or SA chorus and piano]
by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) , "The owl", 1909? [SATB]
by Arnold Atkinson Cooke (1906-2005) , "The owl", 1956, published 1963 [soprano or tenor, horn, and piano], from Nocturnes, no. 4.
by Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1877-1946) , "The owl", published 1915. [unison voices and piano]
by Theodora Dutton , "To the owl", published <<1940. [voice and piano]
by Christopher Montague Edmunds (1899-1990) , "The owl", published 1930. [SS chorus a cappella]
by Nicolas Flagello (1928-) , "The owl", published 1964 [bass-baritone and chamber orchestra or piano], from The Land, no. ?
by Percival Garratt (1877-1953) , "The owl", published 1923. [two-part chorus of medium-high voices and piano]
by R. A. Gatty , "The owl", published 1869. [voice and piano]
by Henry Franklin Belknap Gilbert (1868-1928) , "The owl", published 1910. [voice and piano]
by Joseph Groocock , "The owl", published c1953. [unison voices and piano]
by Marjorie Helyer , "When cats run home", published 1957. [unison voices and piano]
by Francis Alan Jackson (1917-) , "The owl", published 1949. [SSA chorus and piano]
by Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob (1895-1984) , "When cats run home", published 1938. [unison voices and piano]
by Roger Parks Jones (1944-) , "The white owl" [SATB chorus and instruments]
by Louis Lavater (1867-1953) , "The white owl", published 1933. [voice and piano]
by Cuthbert Edward Osmond (1904-1937) , "The owl", published 1948. [unison voices and piano]
by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) , "The owl", published 1909. [unison voices and piano]
by Montague Fawcett Phillips (1885-1969) , "The owl", published 1939. [SS chorus and piano]
by Henry Hugo Pierson (1816-1873) , "The white owl", published 1875. [voice and piano], also set in German
by Arthur John Pritchard , "When cats run home", published 1947. [TTBB chorus a cappella]
by Daniel Protheroe (1866-1934) , "The owl", published 1917 [voices and piano], from Fifth Year Music
by J. W. Sidebotham , "The owl", published <<1892. [chorus]
by Edward Silas (1827-1909) , "The owl", published 1867. [SATB chorus and piano]
by Harold Hinchcliffe Sykes , "The owl", published 1966. [unison voices and piano]
by Eric Harding Thiman (1900-1975) , "When cats run home", published 1930. [two-part chorus and piano]
by Vally Weigl, née Pick (1894?89?-1982) , "The owl", published 1962-3 [medium voice and piano], from Songs for a child, no. ?

by Henry Hugo Pierson (1816-1873) , "Die weiße Eul'", published 1875. [voice and piano], also set in English

GER German (Bertram Kottmann)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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