Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Sept....

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
  Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
  A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
  Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
  Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
  In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
  The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
  And all that mighty heart is lying still!

by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) , "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1803", from Poems, Volume I, published 1807, later revised

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

by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-) , "Sonnet", 1962 [tenor and chamber ensemble], from London Pastoral, no. ?
by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) , "Upon Westminster Bridge", published 1943. [SATB chorus and piano]
by John Eaton (1935-) , "Lines written upon Westminster Bridge", from Songs for Ursula, no. 4.
by Richard Bamford Lane (1933-2004) , "Westminster Bridge", published 1968. [soprano and orchestra]
by Audrey Margaret Piggott (1906-) , "Upon Westminster Bridge", 1957. [SA chorus and piano]
by Geraldine Dorothy Rasmussen (1925-) , "Westminster Bridge", c1969-70. [mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano]
by Michael Short (1937-) , "Upon Westminster Bridge", 1972 [high voice and piano], from 4 Wordsworth Songs, no. ?
by William B. Wordsworth (1908-1988) , "Westminster Bridge", published 1950 [high voice and string quartet], from Three Wordsworth Songs, no. ?

Date added to the website: 2008-09-18.

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