for Tenor or Soprano and Piano
Composed: 1974
Duration: 3 minutes
First Performance: June 1985, at Sherborne School, Dorset, given by Richard Bridge, with the composer at the piano.
This is the earliest of the many songs that have been written by Ian Venables, and it has been described by the composer Michael Hurd as a 'perfect setting'. The words are part of Harold Monro's poem Midnight Lamentation and Venables' setting was written when the composer was 19 years old. It is a powerful interpretation of a profoundly moving poem, and has all the fingerprints of Venables' mature style: primarily a strong melodic gift, coupled with a highly sensitive approach to word-painting. There is a simplicity in its harmonic language that allows the profundity of the poem to be balanced perfectly with the music. It is loosely strophic in form with the final stanza providing its musical climax.