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“Thoughts of . . . Summer half, 1865”

“Thoughts of . . . Summer half, 1865” A piece just eight bars long is pregnant with Vague meaning and with secrecy. A man (Not quite) is burdened with Victorian myth Of sex as tight as whalebone girdles can Impose on him.  On top of that he’s just a boy At school...

“When Stars are in the Quiet Sky”

“When Stars are in the Quiet Sky” ‘The desire of the moth for the star’ ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley On thirteen August, 1865, This song came out of Hubert Parry, whole. It seems he did not really need to strive. Perhaps his writing then was like a stroll Along a path in...

First Magnificat, 1864

    First Magnificat, 1864 His first Magnificat is likely to Have been the one he heard performed while He was still at Eton as a boy.  True To truth he hated it—thought it was vile— When he looked back on it.  He called it bad. He called it “bad.”  In 1865 He looked...

A Common Prayer for Honesty

A Common Prayer for Honesty Psalm 52:1 ‘an anthem in five parts, “Why boasteth thou thyself,” the second section adding a solo quartet, making a good nine-part work (1865).’ ~ Emily Daymond This criticism of himself becomes The context of his later anthem, “Why...

Parts Song “Take, oh Take Those Lips Away”

                      Parts Song “Take, oh Take Those Lips Away” “(sung at the Eton College Concert)” ~ Emily Daymond Take, oh take those lips away, That so sweetly were forsworn, And those eyes: the breake of day, Lights that do mislead the Morn; But my kisses bring...