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DDD LIZA LEHMANN The English Song Series • 8 (1862-1918) 8.557118 1 Cherry Ripe * 2:37 * Dusk in the Valley ° 2:39 Liza from The Daisy Chain 12:47 ( The Lily of a Day * 2:30 2 Fairies ° 1:52 LEHMANN 3 Keepsake Mill ‡ 2:51 ) When I am dead, my dearest * 2:30 4 If no one ever marries me * 1:36 5 Stars † 3:21 Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral 17:00 6 The Swing * 1:14 ¡ Rebecca ° ‡ 2:32 The Daisy Chain 7 Mustard and Cress ‡ 1:45 ™ Jim ° 4:23 £ Matilda ° ‡ 3:37 Bird Songs * 9:16 ¢ Henry King ‡ 3:15 Bird Songs 8 The Woodpigeon 2:13 ∞ Charles Augustus Fortescue ° ‡ 3:06 9 The Starling 2:01 0 The Yellowhammer 1:24 § My true friend hath my hat † ‡ 1:43 Four Cautionary Tales ! The Wren 2:26 and a Moral @ The Owl 1:05 Two Nonsense Songs from Alice in Wonderland 5:22 # Magdalen at Michael’s Gate * 3:34 ¶ Mockturtle soup † 3:36 • Will you walk a little faster? * ° † ‡ 1:45 $ Evensong ° 2:35 Janice Watson, Soprano Janice Watson , Soprano * Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo-Soprano % Endymion * 7:15 Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo-Soprano ° Toby Spence, Tenor † Toby Spence, Tenor ^ Music when soft voices die ‡ 2:25 Neal Davies, Baritone ‡ Steuart Bedford, Piano Neal Davies, Baritone & To a little red spider ° 2:47 Steuart Bedford, Piano 8.557118 16 557118 bk Lehmann 21/01/2004 01:38pm Page 2

Liza Lehmann (1862-1918) ‘You can really have no notion how delightful it The Daisy Chain • Bird Songs • Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral Two Nonsense Songs from ‘Alice in will be, Wonderland’ When they take us up and throw us, with the Liza Lehmann was the eldest daughter of the painter By this time Liza Lehmann had embarked on a Poems by Lewis Carroll lobsters, out to sea!’ Rudolf Lehmann and his wife Amelia, daughter of the career as a singer, appearing in concerts and recitals, But the snail replied ‘Too far! Too far!’ and gave a Edinburgh publisher and writer Robert Chambers. performing in oratorio and in various London concert ¶ Mockturtle Soup look askance - Rudolf Lehmann, who later settled with his family in series. There was even an appearance at the Berlin Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would England, was born in Hamburg and was himself the son Philharmonic, in response to an invitation from Joseph Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, not join the dance. of a German painter and his Italian wife. Christened Joachim. Meanwhile the family’s social connections Waiting in a hot tureen! Would not, could not, would not, could not, would Elisabetha Nina Mary Frederica, Liza Lehmann was and her father’s work brought contact with leading Who for such dainties would not stoop? not join the dance, born in London, to ensure British nationality if the child painters, including Lord Leighton, Millais and Alma- Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! Would not, could not, would not, could not, would had been a boy, although the Lehmanns were living at Tadema, and, among those who sat for her father, Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! not join the dance. the time in Rome. Rudolf Lehmann was distinguished Robert Browning. She enjoyed a successful and busy Beau-ootiful Soo-oop! in the artists’ colony there, his friends including Liszt, career as a singer from her début in 1885 at the London Beau-ootiful Soo-oop! ‘What matters it how far you go?’ his scaly friend who always demanded bacon and eggs when he visited Popular Concerts until her farewell recital in 1894, Soo-oop of the e-e-evening, replied, the Lehmanns. On settling in London the family before her marriage to the composer, artist and writer Beautiful, beautiful Soup! ‘There is another shore, you know, upon the other continued to move in established social and artistic Herbert Bedford, at the time earning a living in the City. side. circles, with Rudolf Lehmann enjoying a very Her sister Marianna married Edward Heron-Allen, a Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, The further off from England the nearer is to considerable reputation as a portrait painter. man of wide interests, but known to musicians for his Game, or any other dish? France - The four girls were educated at home by a series of book on violin-making. The third of the girls, Amelia, Who would not give all else for two p- Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and governesses and Liza Lehmann was encouraged in married the writer Barry Pain, author of the Pooteresque Ennyworth only of beautiful Soup? join the dance. particular in her obvious musical interests by her Eliza stories, and Alma married Edward Goetz, whose Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you mother, herself a gifted if diffident amateur musician mother had some contemporary reputation as a Beau-ootiful Soo-oop! join the dance? but her daughter’s honest critic and mentor. Liza composer. Beau-ootiful Soo-oop! Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t Lehmann was able to benefit as a singer from the help Marriage for Liza Lehmann and the end of her Soo-oop of the e-e-evening, you join the dance.’ of Jenny Lind, whose classes she later attended. At the career as a singer, brought to a more definite conclusion Beautiful, beautiful Soup! same time she was able to reach a certain ability as a by what seems to have been Bell’s palsy, which had a pianist through sympathetic lessons with Alma Haas. permanent effect on her vocal cords, allowed her to • Will you walk a little faster? She had lessons in singing with Alberto Randegger and return to composition, in which she had had an interest in composition with Raunkilde in Rome, followed by since early childhood. She won particular success with a ‘Will you walk a little faster?’ said a whiting to a further study of composition with Freudenberg in series of song-cycles, of which In a Persian Garden, snail, Wiesbaden and with Hamish MacCunn in London. For written in 1896 and based on texts from Fitzgerald’s ‘There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s some time she wintered with her mother in Italy, and Omar Khayyam, proved immensely popular. This treading on my tail. with her family dined on one occasion with Verdi, followed the earlier The Daisy Chain of 1893, a set of See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all whose portrait her father was drawing. Other notable children’s poems, and there followed In memoriam in advance! musical personalities with whom she came into contact 1899, based on Tennyson, and the Lewis Carroll and They are waiting on the shingle - will you come early in her life included Clara Schumann, with whom Hilaire Belloc nonsense and comic songs of 1908 and and join the dance? she stayed for three weeks in Frankfurt, studying 1909. Her vocal music led to extended concert tours in Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you Pu Schumann’s songs. There she also met Brahms, by which she served as accompanist, including two very join the dance? whose bluff and coarse manners she was not impressed, successful if exhausting tours of America. For the stage Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t particularly when he ate a whole tin of sardines at she wrote a musical farce Sergeant Brue which won you join the dance? breakfast and then drank the oil from the tin in one some success in 1904, and other stage works included a draught, as she recounts in her colourful autobiography. light opera The Vicar of Wakefield which brought a 8.557118 2 15 8.557118 557118 bk Lehmann 21/01/2004 01:38pm Page 14

It happened that a few weeks later In eating bread he made no crumbs, quarrel with the librettist Lawrence Housman, who Herbert Bedford through the Boer War. The settings are Her Aunt went off to the Theatre He was extremely fond of sums. objected to cuts in his extensive text and was actually admirably suited to their purpose, with a nice use of To see that entertaining play And as for finding mutton-fat evicted from the theatre at the first performance. Her illustrative detail in the accompaniment. ‘The Second Mrs Tanqueray.’ Unappetising, far from that! final attempt at opera was with Everyman, the morality Magdalen at St Michael’s Gate, a setting of a poem That night a fire did break out – He often, at his father’s board, play, staged in London in 1915. In her later years she by Henry Kingsley, the adventurous younger brother of You should have heard Matilda shout! Would beg them, of his own accord, served as professor of singing at the Guildhall School of Charles Kingsley, was among those songs that Liza You should have heard her scream and bawl, To give him, if they did not mind, Music and Drama. She was seriously affected by the Lehmann described as her publisher’s step-children, And throw the window up and call. The greasiest morsels they could find, - death in 1916 of the elder of her two sons, who selling less well than songs in a lighter vein, but much But every time she shouted, ‘Fire!’ His later years did not belie contracted pneumonia during military service. Her valued by her. The song was written for Nellie Melba, The people answered ‘Little liar!’ The promise of his infancy. second son, Lesley, was the father of the conductor who often sang it in her recitals, and makes some And therefore when her Aunt returned, In public life he always tried Steuart Bedford, who accompanies the songs here, as technical demand on a singer. The composer’s eclectic Matilda, and the house, were burned. To take a judgement broad and wide; his grandmother once did, and of the composer David choice of texts fell on Constance Morgan’s Evensong In private, none was more than he Bedford. She completed her memoirs, which give a that inspired a poignant song. It is here followed by ¢ Henry King Renowned for quiet courtesy. fascinating picture of the times in which she lived, late Longfellow’s Endymion, a substantial setting which (Who chewed little bits of string and was early He rose at once in his career, in 1918, shortly before her death. seems originally to have been intended for voice and cut off in dreadful agonies) And long before his fortieth year Of German parentage, born in London in 1786, orchestra. The moving setting of Shelley’s Music when Had wedded Fifi, only child Charles Edward Horn was taught music by his father soft voices die is here followed by the very different To The chief defect of Henry King, Of Bunyan, first Lord Alberfylde. and by the famous castrato Rauzzini, embarking on a a little red spider. Dusk in the Valley turns to George Was chewing little bits of string. He thus became immensely rich, career as a singer and composer. He is chiefly known as Meredith for its inspiration, written in the last period of At last he swallowed some which tied And built the splendid mansion which the composer of Cherry Ripe, a song inserted into an her life, while The Lily of a Day, a setting of a poem by Itself in ugly knots inside. Is called’The Cedars, Muswell Hill’ opera in London in 1826 and one that gave rise to Ben Jonson, is a lament for the death of her son to Physicians of the utmost fame Where he resides in affluence still accusations of plagiarism, finally settled in his favour in whose memory it is dedicated. Her version of Christina Were called at once: but when they came, To show what everybody might court, because of alleged similarity to a song by Rossetti’s When I am dead, my dearest was written They answered, as they took their fees, Become by Mozart’s English pupil Attwood. Liza Lehmann’s shortly before her death in 1918. ‘There is no cure for this disease, SIMPLY DOING RIGHT! arrangement of the song has remained among the most Liza Lehmann’s delightful mock-serious settings of Henry will very soon be dead.’ popular of the 150 songs that she wrote. a group of Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales, with the His parents stood about his bed § My true friend hath my hat The Daisy-Chain is a light-hearted cycle of songs, dramatic fate of four of the unfortunate subjects Lamenting his untimely death, including one with words by Alma-Tadema. The contrasted with the suaver moral of the odiously When Henry, with his latest breath, S-r Ph-1-p S-dn-y present songs from the collection start with Fairies to successful Charles Augustus Fortescue, proved Cried ‘Oh, my friends, be warned by me (from ‘Parody Pie’) which the setting of Stevenson’s Keepsake Mill offers a immensely popular. These were first sung by Clara Butt That breakfast, dinner, lunch and tea, Poem by A. Stodart-Wal-ker sterner, masculine contrast. Alma-Tadema’s If no one and Kennerley Rumford at an Albert Hall concert. My Are all the human frame requires...’ ever marries me earned a parody from a singer, a true friend hath my hat, a parody of Sir Philip Sidney’s With that, the wretched child expires. My true friend hath my hat, and I have his, gentleman of some weight, as If no on ever carries me, My true friend hath my heart and I have his by By choice of mine, one for another changed; a suggestion that appealed to the composer’s sense of A. Stodart-Walker was included in a collection Parody ∞ Charles Augustus Fortescue I hold his dear, and mine he’d never miss, humour. Stars and The Swing set texts from Stevenson’s Pie, from which a version of Tosti’s popular Farewell (Who always did what was right, and so There never was a better swop arranged: A Child’s Garden of Verses, a collection of poems once had to be omitted, at the demand of the latter’s accumulated an immense fortune) My true friend hath my hat, and I have his. familiar in every nursery. Mustard and Cress is very publishers. Further evidence of the composer’s sense of His hat on me saves me the price of one; much of its period, aptly and unpretentiously set. humour, of which her autobiography provides ample The nicest child I ever knew My hat on him his foolish head hath guyed; Bird Songs of 1906 were first performed by evidence, is heard in two of her group of Nonsense Was Charles Augustus Fortescue, He hates my hat, he much prefers his own, Blanche Marchesi, settings of verses by A.S., Songs from Lewis Carroll. He never lost his cap, or tore I cherish his, my bald patch it doth hide: conjecturally identified by Steuart Bedford as Alice His stockings or his pinafore: My true friend hath my hat, and I have his. Sayers, the family nurse, who remained with the Bedfords after the financial reverses experienced by Keith Anderson 8.557118 14 3 8.557118 557118 bk Lehmann 21/01/2004 01:38pm Page 4

Janice Watson ™ Jim When Nurse informed his parents, they (Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten Were more concerned than I can say. Janice Watson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In opera she has sung with Welsh National by a Lion) His mother, as she dried her eyes, Opera, English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, Opéra de Lyon, Flanders Said, ‘Well - it gives me no surprise, Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, Bavarian State Opera and the Netherlands Opera. There was a boy whose name was Jim: He would not do as he was told!’ In North America she has sung at the Santa Fe Festival, with the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago His friends were very good to him. His father, (who was self -controlled) and the Metropolitan Opera. Her concerts include collaboration with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco They gave him tea, and cakes, and jam, Bade all the children round attend Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras And slices of delicious ham. To James’ miserable end, and the Orchestre de Paris under Norrington, Previn, Tilson-Thomas, Colin Davis, Chailly, Brüggen, Marriner, They read him stories through and through, And always keep a hold of Nurse Haitink and Mackerras. Her many recordings include Poulenc’s Gloria, Howells’ Missa Sabrinensis under And even took him to the Zoo – For fear of finding something worse. Rozhdestvensky, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes under Richard Hickox (Grammy Award winner) and Helena in A But there it was the dreadful fate Midsummer Night’s Dream under Colin Davis. Befell him, which I now relate. £ Matilda (Who told lies, and was burned to death) You know - at least you ought to know For I have often told you so – Matilda told such dreadful lies, Catherine Wyn-Rogers That children never are allowed It made one gasp and stretch one’s eyes. To leave their nurses in a crowd; Her aunt, who, from her earliest youth, Catherine Wyn-Rogers studied at the Royal College of Music with Meriel St Clair, continued her studies with Ellis Now this was Jim’s especial foible, Had kept a strict regard for truth, Keeler and now works with Diane Forlano. She works extensively in recital and oratorio, appearing with the major He ran away when he was able, Attempted to believe Matilda: symphony and period instrument orchestras, choral societies and Festivals throughout Europe and in North And on this inauspicious day The effort very nearly killed her. America, including the First and Last Nights of the BBC Proms. She appears regularly on the opera stage in a wide He slipped his hand and ran away! repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Wagner, Britten and Tippett, and has worked with Scottish Opera, Welsh He hadn’t gone a yard when - bang! Now once, towards the close of day, National Opera, Opera North, the Netherlands Opera and the Salzburg Festival. She is a regular guest with English With open jaws, a lion sprang; Matilda, growing tired of play, National Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. And hungrily began to eat And finding she was left alone, The boy; beginning at his feet. Went tiptoes to the telephone And summoned the immediate aid Now just imagine how it feels Of London’s noble Fire Brigade. When first your toes and then your heels And then by gradual degrees, From Putney, Hackney Downs, and Bow, Your shins and ankles, calves and knees With courage high and hearts aglow, Are slowly eaten, bit by bit. They galloped, roaring through the town, No wonder Jim detested it! Matilda’s house is burning down! No wonder that he shouted ‘Hi!’ The honest keeper heard his cry They ran their ladders through a score Though very fat he almost ran Of windows on the ball-room floor; To help the little gentleman. And took peculiar pains to souse ‘Ponto!’ he cried, with angry frown, - The pictures up and down the house, ‘Let go, sir! Down, sir! Put it down!’ Until Matilda’s Aunt succeeded But when he bent him over Jim, In showing them they were not needed, The honest keeper’s eyes were dim. And even then she had to pay The Lion having reached his head To get the men to go away! The miserable boy was dead.

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* Dusk in the Valley I shall not see the shadows, Toby Spence From ‘Love in the Valley’ by George Meredith I shall not feel the rain, I shall not hear the nightingale Lovely are the curves of the white owl sweeping Sing on as if in pain, An honours graduate and choral scholar from New College, Oxford, Toby Spence studied at the Guildhall School Wavy in the dusk lit by one large star. And dreaming through the twilight of Music and Drama. He has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra under von Dohnanyi, the San Francisco Symphony Lone in the fir-branch, his rattle-note unvaried, That doth not rise nor set, under Tilson Thomas, the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Gergiev, Les Musiciens du Louvre under Minkowski, the Brooding o’er the gloom, spins the brown eve jar. Haply I may remember, London Symphony Orchestra under Rattle and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen. In the Darker grows the valley, more and more And haply may forget. United Kingdom he has appeared with Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, English National Opera and the forgetting: Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Abroad he has sung with the Monnaie in Brussels, the Salzburg Festival, the So were it with me if forgetting could be willed. ¡-∞ Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, the Netherlands Opera, and the San Francisco Opera, and he is a regular guest with the Poems by Hilaire Belloc Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Paris Opéra. ( The Lily of a Day Poem by Ben Jonson ¡ Rebecca (Who slammed doors for fun and It is not growing like a tree in bulk, perished miserably) Neal Davies Doth make man better be, Nor standing like an oak A trick that everyone abhors Neal Davies was born in Newport and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Since his début with Coburg Opera Three hundred year, In little girls is slamming doors. he has appeared with the Opéra de Marseille, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, To fall at last a log, Opéra de Québec and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and is a regular guest at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Dry, bald and sere. A wealthy banker’s little daughter, BBC Proms. His recordings include Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under Colin Davis, Handel’s Messiah, Who lived in Palace Green, Bayswater, Theodora and Saul under McCreesh, Vivaldi Cantatas and Handel’s L’Allegro under King. Concert engagements The lily of a day, (By name Rebecca Offendort,) have included appearances with the Cleveland and Philharmonia Orchestras under von Dohnanyi, the Oslo Were fairer far in May, Was given to this furious sport. Philharmonic under Jansons, the BBC Symphony under Boulez, the Netherlands Philharmonic under de Waart, the Although it droop and die that night, She would deliberately go Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Brüggen, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Harnoncourt, the It was the plant and flow’r of light. And slam the door like Billy-Ho! Detroit Symphony and McGegan and Les Violons du Roy and Labadie. In small proportions we just beauties see To make her Uncle Jacob start, And in short measures life may perfect be. (She was not really bad at heart.)

It happened that a marble bust ) When I am dead, my dearest Of Abraham, was standing just Poem by Christina Rossetti Above the door this little lamb Had carefully prepared to slam. When I am dead, my dearest, And down it came! Sing no sad songs for me; It knocked her flat! Plant thou no roses at my head, It laid her out! She looked like that! Nor shady cypress tree; Be the green grass above me Her funeral sermon (which was long With showers and dewdrops wet: And followed by a sacred song,) And if thou wilt, remember, Mentioned her virtues, it is true, And if thou wilt, forget. But dwelt upon her vices too, And showed the dreadful end of one Who goes and slams the door for fun!

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Steuart Bedford Had dropp’d her silver bow ^ Music when soft voices die Upon the meadows low. Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley Steuart Bedford is recognised as one of today’s leading experts on the works of Benjamin Britten. As a result of his former collaboration with the composer, he has conducted Britten’s operas throughout the world, including the On such a tranquil night as this, Music when soft voices die, world première of Death in Venice in 1973, which was followed by the first recording of the work. From 1974 to She woke Endymion with a kiss. Vibrates in the memory, 1998 he was one of the Artistic Directors of the Aldeburgh Festival eventually becoming Joint Artistic Director When sleeping in the grove, Odours, when sweet violets sicken, with Oliver Knussen. Steuart Bedford has an extensive operatic repertoire and has worked with many of the world’s He dreamed not of her love. Live within the sense they quicken. greatest opera companies including English National Opera, the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Opéra de Paris, Brussels Opera, Monte Carlo Opera, Lausanne Opera, San Diego Like Dian’s kiss unask’d unsought, Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Opera, Santa Fe Opera Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Love gives itself, but is not bought, Are heaped for the belovèd’s bed; Aires. He is also highly regarded for his interpretations of the works of Mozart, with acclaimed performances at the Nor voice nor sound betrays And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Garsington Opera and elsewhere. Although opera commitments take up much of his time, Steuart Bedford conducts Its deep impassioned gaze. Love itself will slumber on. concert engagements both in Britain and abroad, and has toured Australia, New Zealand, South America and Scandinavia. He has worked with the English Chamber Orchestra (with whom he has toured all over the world), the It comes, the beautiful, the free; Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The crown, of all humanity, & To a little red spider Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia, Teatro Colón, Gurzenich In silence, and alone, Poem by L. Ann Cunnington Orchestra, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, Dortmund To seek the elected one. Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestras. And what have ye come to bring, It lifts the boughs whose shadows deep Ye wee little scrap of a thing? Are life’s oblivion, the soul’s sleep. Sure ‘tis a long way down from the ceiling, And kisses the closed eyes A long way down for to swing. Of him who slumbering lies. And you, an atom so small, Oh, weary hearts, oh, slumbering eyes, How found ye the way at all? Oh, drooping souls whose destinies Sure, ’tis a long way down from the ceiling, Are fraught with fear and pain, A long way down for to fall. Ye shall be loved again! Small wizard, ye came to me, No one is so accursed by fate, Saying ‘Good hope for thee! No one so utterly desolate Sure, ’tis a long, long night has no morning, But some heart, though unknown, With no fresh dawn for to see!’ Responds unto his own. And that’s what ye came to bring, Responds as though with unseen wings Ye wee little scrap of a thing! An angel touched the quiv’ring strings Sure, all the long way down from the ceiling, And whispers in its song Such a long way down for to swing. Where hast thou stayed so long?

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Where his little wife sits all day, 1 Cherry Ripe 3 Keepsake Mill And by her side he sings to her, ‘Yes, I have seen the wounds, Poem by Herrick; Music by C.E Horn Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson from And never flies far away. And I know my sin.’ Arranged by Liza Lehmann ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ ‘She knows it well,’ sang the blackbird (from Useful Teaching Songs) @ The Owl ‘Let her in! Let her in!’ Here is the mill with the humming of thunder, Cherry ripe, cherry ripe, ripe I cry! Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, Three little owlets ‘Thou bring’st no offerings,’ said Michael Full and fair ones, come and buy! Here is the sluice with the race running under. In a hollow tree, ‘Nought save sin.’ If so be you ask me where Marvellous places, though handy to home! Cuddled up together ‘She is sorry,’ sang the blackbird, They do grow, I answer, there Close as could be. ‘Let her in! Ah, let her in!’ Where my lover’s lips do smile, Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, When the moon shone out There’s the land, or cherry isle. Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; And the dew lay wet, When he had sung himself to sleep, Cherry ripe, cherry ripe, ripe I cry! Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, Mother flew about And night did begin, Full and fair ones, come and buy! Deaf are his cars to the moil of the mill. To see what she could get. One came and open’d Michael’s gate, Where my lover’s lips do smile, She caught a little mouse And Magdalen went in. There’s the land, or cherry isle, Years may go by, and the wheel in the river So velvety and soft, There plantations fully show Wheel as it wheels for us, children, today, She caught a little sparrow, $ Evensong All the year where cherries grow. Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever, And then she flew aloft Poem by Constance Morgan Cherry ripe, cherry ripe, ripe I cry! Long after all of the boys are away. Full and fair ones, come and buy! To the three little owlets Fold your white wings, dear Angels, Home from the Indies and home from the Ocean, In a hollow tree Fold your white wings; From The Daisy Chain Heroes and soldiers, we all shall come home; Cuddled up together Dew falls and nightingale softly now sings. 2 Fairies Still we shall hear the old mill-wheel in motion, Close as could be. Across the lawn lie shadows, Anon. from ‘Poems written for a Child’ Turning and churning that river to foam. ‘Tu-whoo’, said the old owl, So still, so deep, ‘Isn’t this good cheer?’ Dear loving Angels, pass not by, At twilight in beautiful Summers, 4 If no one ever marries me ‘Tu-whit,’ said the owlets, Hush me to sleep. When all the dew is shed, Poem by Laurence Alma Tadema from ‘Thank you, mother dear, Night falls, and whisp’ring goes And all the singers and hummers ‘Little Girls’ (Realms of Unknown Kings) Tu-whit, tu-whit, tu-whit, tu-whit The wind along the sea, Are safe at home in bed, Tu-whooo!’ Fold your white wings, dear Angels, In many a nook of the meadows If no one ever marries me, Fold them, dear Angels, Fairies may linger and lurk; And I don’t see why they should, # Magdalen at Michael’s Gate Fold them round me. Look! under the long grass shadows, For nurse says I’m not pretty, Poem by Henry Kingsley Perhaps you may see them at work. And I’m seldom very good, % Endymion Magdalen at Michael’s gate, Poem by H. W. Longfellow Perhaps you’ll see them swinging If no one ever marries me Tirled at the pin; On see-saw reeds in the dells; I shan’t mind very much; On Joseph’s thorn sang the blackbird, The rising moon has hid the stars, Perhaps you’ll hear them ringing I shall buy a squirrel in a cage, ‘Let her in! Let her in!’ Her level rays like golden bars The sweet little heather-bells; And a little rabbit hutch. Lie on the landscape green Or setting the lilies steady, ‘Hast thou seen the wounds?’ said Michael, With shadows brown between, Before they begin to grow; I shall have a cottage near a wood, ‘Knowest thou thy sin?’ Or getting the rosebuds ready, And a pony all my own, ‘It is ev’ning,’ sang the blackbird, And silver-white the river gleams, Before it is time to blow. And a little lamb quite clean and tame, ‘Let her in! Let her in!’ As if Diana, in her dreams That I can take to town;

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And when I’m getting really old - 6 The Swing 8-@ Bird Songs That the people far and near At twenty eight or nine - Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson from Poems by A. S. All may know ‘tis Sunday morning, I shall buy a little orphan girl ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ And make haste to gather here. And bring her up as mine. 8 The Woodpigeon While the organ’s sweetly playing How do you like to go up in a swing, Little birds need have no fear! If no one ever marries me, - Up in the air so blue? When the harvest all was gathered While below the folk are praying, And I don’t see why they should! Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing In the sunny Autumn weather, You can sing your hymns up here!’ Ever a child can do? To the greenwood, blithe and merry, 5 Stars We went nutting all together; 0 The Yellowhammer Up in the air, and over the wall, And as the woods we wander’d, Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson Till I can see so wide, So dim and dark and green, On a sultry Summer morning from ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ Rivers, and trees, and cattle, and all We heard a sweet voice calling Down the dusty road we stray’d, Over the countryside. Though no one could be seen: And plucked the wayside flowers, The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out ‘Two sticks across, And ran and laughed and played! Through the blinds, and the windows, and bars; Till I look down on the garden green, And a little bit of moss; There was not the slightest breeze, And high overhead, and all moving about, Down on the roof so brown, It’ll do, it’ll do, it’ll do, And we wearied of our play, There were thousands and millions of stars. Up in the air I go flying again, Coo, coo, coo.’ And then we heard the yellowhammer say: Up in the air, and down! ‘A little bit of bread and no cheese!’ There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a The wild things of the woodlands tree, 7 Mustard and Cress Scarce seemed of us afraid; Once again we roamed the woodland, Nor of people in church, or the park, Poem by Norman Gale from ‘Songs for The blue jay flash’d before us, When the years had fleeted by, As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon the Little People’ And the squirrel near us played. And, poor as mice, we pledged me, We ate our nuts and rested Our vows, my love and I. And that glittered and winked in the dark. Elizabeth, my cousin, is the sweetest little girl, On a fallen tree, moss grown, We had kiss’d beneath the trees, From her eyes, like dark blue pansies, to her tiniest And still a voice kept calling And then we heard again The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, golden curl: In softest, tend’rest tone: The yellowhammer say, quite plain: And the star of the Sailor, and Mars, I do not use her great long name, but simply call ‘Two sticks across, ‘A little bit of bread and no cheese!’ These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall her ‘Bess’, And a little bit of moss; Would be half full of water and stars. And yesterday I planted her in Mustard and in It’ll do, it’ll do, it’ll do, ! The Wren Cress. Coo, coo, coo.’ They saw me at last, and they chased me with A wren just under my window cries, My garden is so narrow that there’s very little 9 The Starling Has suddenly, sweetly sung; And they soon had me packed into bed; room, He woke me from my slumbers But the glory kept shining, and bright in my eyes, But I’d rather have her name than get a hollyhock On her nest, with her young, With his sweet shrill tongue. And the stars going round in my head. to bloom; Sat the starling in the steeple, And before she comes to visit us with Charlie and While below the great bell swung It was so very early, with Tess, To the church to call the people. The dewdrops were not dry, She’ll pop up green and bonny out of Mustard and ‘Mother mother’, cried the starlings, And pearly cloudlets floated of Cress. ‘What is that? Oh mother, tell!’ Across the rosy sky. ‘Don’t be frightened, little darlings, Ah! ’Tis the great church bell, Ringing out its solemn warning, His nest is in the ivy

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Although the British composer Liza Lehmann had begun her career as a singer – she appeared in AXOS concerts and recitals, performing in oratorio and in various London concert series as well as overseas – damage to her vocal cords forced her to concentrate on composition, in which she had had an interest since early childhood, and on accompaniment. This collection from her extensive song output 8.557118 includes poems from Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, once familiar in every nursery, her delightful mock-serious settings of Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales and two Nonsense Songs from DDD Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Although the songs are short and light-hearted, they exhibit THE ENGLISH SONG SERIES • 8 considerably more than just period charm. Liza Lehmann’s second son, Lesley, was the father of the 8.557118 conductor Steuart Bedford, who accompanies the songs here, as his grandmother once did, and of the composer David Bedford. Playing Time 75:00 Liza LEHMANN

LEHMANN (1862-1918) 1 Cherry Ripe 2:37 2-7 from The Daisy Chain 12:47 8-@ Bird Songs 9:16 # Magdalen at Michael’s Gate 3:34 $ Evensong 2:35 % Endymion 7:15 ^ Music when soft voices die 2:25 www.naxos.com Made in Canada Includes sung texts Booklet notes in English h h

& To a little red spider 2:47 & 1997 Pinnacle Entertainment Ltd.

* Dusk in the Valley 2:39 g

( The Lily of a Day 2:30 2004 Naxos Rights International Ltd. ) When I am dead, my dearest 2:30 LEHMANN ¡-∞ Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral 17:00 § My true friend hath my hat 1:43 ¶-• Two Nonsense Songs from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ 5:22 Janice Watson, Soprano • Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo-Soprano Toby Spence, Tenor • Neal Davies, Baritone • Steuart Bedford, Piano

THE ENGLISH SONG SERIES • 8 Recorded 1st-3rd April 1997 at Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, London Producer: John H. West • Engineer: Mike Hatch (Floating Earth) • Booklet Note: Keith Anderson Steinway Concert Grand provided and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London 8.557118 First issued on Collins Classics in 1997 A complete track list can be found on the last page of the booklet Cover Picture: A Ligurian Flower Girl by Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859-1929)

AXOS (Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK. / Bridgeman Art Library) N