St. Andrew's

While the sun was going down, 
There arose a fairy town. 
Not the town I saw by day, 
Cheerless, joyless, dull and gray, 
But a far, fantastic place, 
Builded with ethereal grace, 
Shimmering in a tender mist 
That the slanting rays had kissed 
Ere they let their latest fire 
Touch with gold each slender spire.
There no men and women be:
Mermen, maidens of the sea, 
Combing out their tangled locks, 
Sit and sing amound the rocks. 
As their ruddy harps they sound 
With the seaweed twisted round, 
In the shining sand below 
See the city downward go!

by Mary Coleridge (1861-1907) , "St. Andrew's", from Poems, no. 26, published 1907

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

by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) , "A fairy town", 1908, published 1909 [voice and piano], from English Lyrics, set 9 no. 2
by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875-1938) , "St. Andrew's", published 1913 [voice and piano], from Four Dramatic Songs, no. ?

Date added to the website: 2008-06-09.

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