Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Ian Venables
Break, break, break, Op. 33, no5 (2003)
- Novello & Co Ltd (World)
- Soprano and piano
- Baritone and piano
- 2 min 30 s
- Alfred Lord Tennyson
Programme Note
Part of the song cycle "Six Songs"
Break, break, break is a setting of the poem by the great Victorian poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem’s gothic austerity is matched equally by the power of the music. This marvellous evocation of the restlessness of the sea provides a backdrop for the song’s declamatory vocal entrance on the words, Break, break, break, on thy cold gray stones. In the song’s central section, a new musical idea transforms its overall mood in readiness for the most important line in the poem, Oh for the touch of a vanished hand. A ravishingly beautiful vocal line with a sparse chordal accompaniment re-creates this moment of sublime tenderness. However, this is only fleeting, as the song’s dramatic opening material returns to herald in the last verse.
Break, break, break is a setting of the poem by the great Victorian poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem’s gothic austerity is matched equally by the power of the music. This marvellous evocation of the restlessness of the sea provides a backdrop for the song’s declamatory vocal entrance on the words, Break, break, break, on thy cold gray stones. In the song’s central section, a new musical idea transforms its overall mood in readiness for the most important line in the poem, Oh for the touch of a vanished hand. A ravishingly beautiful vocal line with a sparse chordal accompaniment re-creates this moment of sublime tenderness. However, this is only fleeting, as the song’s dramatic opening material returns to herald in the last verse.