by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
The sword sung on the barren heath
Language: English
The sword sung on the barren heath The sickle in the fruitful field: The sword sung a song of death, But could not make the sickle yield.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), no title, written 1793, appears in Notebook, in Gnomic Verses, no. 14 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Robert Cuckson (b. 1942), "The sword and the sickle", 1971, first performed 1977 [soprano, piano], from Four Blake Songs, no. 1. [text not verified]
- by Romulus Franceschini (b. 1929), "The sword sung in the barren heath", 1964 [tenor or soprano and piano], from Blake Cycle, no. 2. [text not verified]
- by (Peter) Alexander Goehr (b. 1932), "Epigram : The sword sung on the barren heath", op. 17 no. 5 (1964), published c1965 [mixed chorus and trumpet], from Five Poems and an Epigram of William Blake, no. 5, London : Schott [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-03-15
Line count: 4
Word count: 27