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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

Come Away Sighs the Fairy Voice is a song incorporated into the first act finale. A beautiful haunting piece it must have tugged at Arthur's heartstrings! In fact David Steadman¹ says in his programme notes: 'It is tempting to suggest that the dying Sullivan had himself heard the call of the fairy Cleena, and was not unwilling to join her in the land of Tir n-Oc!' 

Come Away
(Single note -1½ bars - Intro)

Rosie:    "Come away", sighs the Fairy Voice,
"Come to the caves of Carrig Cleena!
For there I make all aching hearts rejoice,
Come, come away!"

Girls:    "Come away", sighs the Fairy Voice,
Come away! Come away!"
Men:    Come away from the haunted caves of Carrig Cleena!
Interweaving SATB chorus:    "Come away", sighs the Fairy Voice,
"Come to the caves of Carrig Cleena!
Come, Come away, Come away,
Come to the caves of Carrig Cleena!"

Quartet    "Come away", sighs the Fairy Voice,
"Come to the caves of Carrig Cleena,
For there I make all aching hearts rejoice,
Come, come a . .way!"
(An orchestral 10 bars then takes us into fairyland!)

And isn't it a beautiful ending? Maybe we can begin to understand David Steadman's comments about Arthur (see above). Hope you enjoyed our MusicSmiles arrangement of Basil's lyrics set to Arthur and Edward's super music. Does it conjure up images of fairy caves - time to get the paint brushes out . . .? You will certainly need to borrow a vocal score from your library to follow all the parts - but in the meantime just relax and wallow in the sounds these geniuses created for us . . .

Footnote 1:     For further information see publication details in the MusicSmiles bibliography. Return to story.

Now we'd like you to meet St Patrick Himself! . . .

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