On the idle hill of summer

On the idle hill of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams,
Far I hear the steady drummer
Drumming like a noise in dreams.

Far and near and low and louder,
On the roads of earth go by,
Dear to friends and food for powder,
Soldiers marching, all to die.

East and west on fields forgotten
Bleach the bones of comrades slain,
Lovely lads and dead and rotten;
None that go return again.

Far the calling bugles hollo,
High the screaming fife replies,
Gay the files of scarlet follow;
Woman bore me, I will rise.

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936) , no title, from A Shropshire Lad, no. 35, published 1896

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

by Robert Ainsworth , "On the idle hill of summer", published 1939. [voice and piano]
by Joseph W. Baber (1937-) , "On the idle hill of summer", op. 12 no. ? [high voice and piano], from Songs from English Poets, no. ?
by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-1916) , "On the idle hill of summer", published 1912 [voice and piano], from Bredon Hill and other songs, no. 4.
by Alfred Redgrave Cripps (1882-1950) , "On the idle hill of summer", published <<1940 [voice and piano], from Nine "Shropshire Lad" Songs, no. ?
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "On the idle hill of summer", published 1923 [tenor, string quartet, and piano], from Ludlow and Teme, no. 5.
by Humphrey Searle (1915-1982) , "March past", published 1948 [medium male voice and piano], from Two Songs, no. ?
by Sir Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) , "On the idle hill of summer", published 1904 [voice and piano], from A Shropshire Lad, no. 6.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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