MusicSmiles.com
The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

During the last year of Arthur Sullivan's life, he was commissioned by an American publisher to compose three songs¹. 

Once again he turned to Alfred Lord Tennyson for inspiration. He selected three lyrics from The Princess. However, his poor health caught up with him and he only completed two songs before he died. Both of these were performed at a public concert in London during October 1900.

We have selected one of these for MusicSmiles. O Swallow, Swallow is probably the last composition by Arthur, so in a way this completes our tale. 

The swallow, with its cousins the martins and the swifts is the subject of the song. This brilliant and enigmatic little bird flies thousands of miles at its peril from South Africa to find a mate in northern climes, raises its young, then flies all the way back again with the family. They arrive in England in April, and return to Africa in October. They apparently do this incredible journey to take advantage of the longer Northern days to feed and raise their young. Wow! Ornithologists please comment . . .

Arthur and Alfred have both attempted to capture the swooping, looping and sweeping of these birds, hunting low over the fields and meadows, and circling the upper regions of the sky, seemingly forever on the wing! Arthur appears also to have ventured further into syncopation and close harmonies. Do you think he had the American audience in mind? Can you sense the movement and the chattering of these magic little birds in their flight, and the resonance of the countries they are flying over? What images Alfred and  Arthur have left for us to conjure with . . .

O Swallow, Swallow

O Swallow, Swallow, flying, flying south,
Fly to her, and fall upon her gilded eaves,
And tell her, tell her what I tell to thee -
O tell her, swallow, tho' thou knoweth each,
That bright and fierce and fickle is the south,
And dark and true and tender,
Dark and true and tender is the north.

O Swallow, Swallow, if I could follow,
And light upon her lattice I would pipe and trill,
Would pipe and trill, and chirp and twitter
Twenty million loves.
O were I thou that she might take me in,
And lay me on her bosom,
And her heart would rock the snowy cradle 'till I died.

Why ling'reth she to clothe her heart with love.
Delaying as the tender ash delays to clothe herself,
When all the woods are green?
O tell her, Swallow, that thy brood is flown:
O say to her, I do but wanton in the south,
But wanton in the south,
But in the north, 
In the north long since my nest is made.
O tell her, brief is life but love is long.
Brief is life but love is long.

And brief the sun of summer in the north.
And brief the moon of beauty in the south.
O Swallow, flying from the golden woods,
Fly to her, and pipe and woo and make her mine,
And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee!
Tell her, tell her that I follow thee;
Fly to her, and pipe and woo her,
Pipe and woo her, and make her mine - - -.
And tell her, tell her that I follow, follow thee!

1.    Footnote: For further details about the wonderful source of this and other Sullivan Gems, see our MusicSmiles bibliography, in due course. Return to story.

And so to William and Arthur's End of Dreams!

( Click number to view statistics > > >). Scribe thanks all our  223,547 MusicSmiles visitors up to beginning of September, 2010. 

You may find our special effects work best with Microsoft Internet Explorer