A Child Asleep

A Child Asleep
Musica
Compositore	Edward Elgar
Tonalità	mi bemolle maggiore
Tipo di composizione	Canzone
Epoca di composizione	1909
Pubblicazione	1910, Novello
Dedica	Anthony Goetz
Durata media	3 minuti
Organico	voce, pianoforte
Testo inglese
Autore	Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Epoca	1840
	Manuale

A Child Asleep è una canzone, con versi tratti da una poesia scritta da Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Fu messa in musica dal compositore inglese Edward Elgar nel dicembre 1909 e pubblicata nel 1910 da Novello.^[1] Era stata pubblicata per la prima volta dalla Browning nel 1840.^[2]

È dedicata ad Anthony Goetz, figlio di Ludovic Goetz e Muriel Foster, una delle cantanti preferite di Elgar e sua amica personale.^[1]

Versi

    How he sleepeth!

    Vision unto vision calleth,
        While the young child dreameth on.
    Fair, O dreamer, thee befalleth
        With the glory thou hast won!
Darker wert thou in the garden, yestermorn, by summer sun.

    We should see the spirits [rising]
        Round thee,—were the clouds away.
    'Tis the child-heart draws them, singing
        In the silent-seeming clay.
Singing!—stars that seem the mutest, go in music music all the way.

    Softly, softly! make no noises!
        Now he lieth [still] and dumb.
    Now he hears the angels' voices
        Folding silence in the room.
Now he muses deep the meaning of the Heaven-words as they come.

    He is harmless—[we] are sinful.
        [We] are troubled—he, at ease.
    From his slumber, virtue winful
        Floweth outward with increase.
Dare not bless him! but be blessèd by his peace—and go in peace.^[3]

Stanza I, riga 1a; stanze IV, V, IX, e XII

Incisioni

The Unknown Elgar comprende "A Child Asleep" eseguita da Teresa Cahill (soprano), con Barry Collett (piano).
The Songs of Edward Elgar SOMM CD 220 Catherine Wyn-Rogers (soprano) con Malcolm Martineau (piano), al Southlands College, Londra, aprile 1999

Note

^ ^a ^b Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar, Third, Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 350, ISBN 0-19-284017-7.
^ Elizabeth Barrett Browning e Harriet Waters Preston, The Complete Poetical Works of Mrs. Browning, Houghton Mifflin, 1900, pp. 155–156.
^ Text taken from: (EN) Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Poems, vol. 2, 4th, London, Chapman & Hall, 1856, pp. 150-153., showing Elgar's alterations in [brackets], according to: How he sleepeth! having drunken (Browning, set by Edward Elgar, Sir, Rudolph T. Werther), su lieder.net. URL consultato il 30 dicembre 2019.

Bibliografia

(EN) Percy M. Young, Elgar O.M: a study of a musician, Purnell; Book Club ed., 1º gennaio 1973.

Collegamenti esterni

(EN) Spartiti liberi di A Child Asleep, in International Music Score Library Project, Project Petrucci LLC.

Portale Musica classica: accedi alle voci di Wikipedia che trattano di Musica classica

[Kennedy-1] Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar, Third, Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 350, ISBN 0-19-284017-7.

[2] Elizabeth Barrett Browning e Harriet Waters Preston, The Complete Poetical Works of Mrs. Browning, Houghton Mifflin, 1900, pp. 155–156.

[3] Text taken from: (EN) Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Poems, vol. 2, 4th, London, Chapman & Hall, 1856, pp. 150-153., showing Elgar's alterations in [brackets], according to: How he sleepeth! having drunken (Browning, set by Edward Elgar, Sir, Rudolph T. Werther), su lieder.net. URL consultato il 30 dicembre 2019.

[1]

[2]

[3]

V · D · M Edward Elgar
Musiche di scena e balletto	Diarmuid and Grania (1901) · The Crown of India (1911–12) · The Starlight Express (1915–16) · The Sanguine Fan (1917)
Orchestrale	The Wand of Youth (1869–1907) · Powick Asylum Music (1879–1884) · Sevillana (1884) · Froissart (1890) · Sursum corda (1894) · Serenata per archi (1894) · Imperial March (1897) · Tre danze bavaresi (1898) · Enigma Variations (1899) · Cockaigne (1900–01) · Pomp and Circumstance (1901–30) · Dream Children (1902) · Introduzione e allegro (1904–05) · In the South, Alassio (1904–05) · Sinfonia n. 1 (1907–08) · Sinfonia n. 2 (1909–11) · Falstaff (1913) · Sospiri (1914) · Carillon (1914) · Polonia (1915) · Une voix dans le désert (1915) · Le drapeau belge (1917) · Nursery Suite (1930) · The Severn Suite (1930) · Sinfonia n. 3 (1932–34)
Sinfonia concertante	Concerto per violino (1901–10) · Romance (1910) · Concerto per violoncello (1918–19)
Da camera/strumentale	Duetto per trombone e contrabbasso (1887) · Idylle (1883) · Salut d'Amour (1888) · Chanson de Nuit (1897) · Chanson de Matin (1899) · Sonata per organo (1898) · Concert Allegro (1901) · Sonata per violino (1918) · Quartetto per archi (1918) · Quintetto per pianoforte (1918–19)
Vocale/corale orchestrale	The Black Knight (1889–93) · From the Bavarian Highlands (1895–96) · Il sogno di Geronte (1899–1900) · The Kingdom (1901–06) · Coronation Ode (1902) · Land of Hope and Glory (1902) · The Apostles (1902–03) · The Music Makers (1912) · The Spirit of England (1915–17)
Vocale	"The Language of Flowers" (1872) · "The Self Banished" (1875) · "A War Song" (1884) Seven Lieder (1885-1894): "Like to the Damask Rose" (1892), "Queen Mary's Song" (1889), "A Song of Autumn" (1892), "The Poet's Life" (1892), "Through the Long Days" (1885), "Rondel" (1894), "The Shepherd's Song" (1892) "Is she not passing fair?" (1886) · "As I laye a-thynkynge" (1888) · "The Wind at Dawn" (1888) · "The Shepherd's Song" (1892) · "After" (1900) · "A Song of Flight" (1900) Sea Pictures (1899): "Sea Slumber Song", "In Haven", "Sabbath Morning at Sea", "Where Corals Lie", "The Swimmer" (1897–99) "Dry those fair, those crystal eyes" (1899) · The Pipes of Pan (1899) · "Always and Everywhere" (1901) · "Come, Gentle Night!" (1901) · "In the Dawn" (1901) · "Speak, Music!" (1901) · "There are seven that pull the thread" (1901) · "In Moonlight" ((1904) · "Follow the Colours" (1907) · "Pleading" (1908) · "A Child Asleep" (1909) · "Oh, soft was the song" (1910) · "Was it some Golden Star?" (1910) · "Twilight" (1910) · "The Chariots of the Lord" (1914) · "Fight for Right" (1916) · "Inside the Bar" (1917) The Fringes of the Fleet (1916): "The Lowestoft Boat", "Fate's Discourtesy", "Submarines", "The Sweepers" Pageant of Empire (1924): "The Blue Mountains", "Shakespeare's Kingdom", "The Islands", "The Heart of Canada", "Sailing Westward", "Merchant Adventurers", "The Immortal Legions", "A Song of Union", "The Immortal Legions" "XTC" (1930)
Dal nome di Elgar	Elgar Birthplace Museum · Elgar Society · Altopiani di Elgar
Raffigurazioni culturali	Elgar (film)
Famiglia	August Jaeger · Caroline Alice Elgar
Voci correlate	Ivor Atkins · Michael Kennedy · Jerrold Northrop Moore · Festival di Birmingham · Broadheath
Composizioni di Edward Elgar