In the highlands, in the country places | In the highlands, in the country places

In the highlands, in the country places

Language: English

In the highlands, in the country places,	
Where the old plain men have rosy faces,	
    And the young fair maidens
        Quiet eyes;
Where essential silence cheers and blesses,
And for ever in the hill-recesses
    Her more lovely music
        Broods and dies —

O to mount again where erst I haunted;
Where the old red hills are bird-enchanted,
    And the low green meadows
        Bright with sward;
And when even dies, the million-tinted,
And the night has come, and planets glinted,
    Lo, the valley hollow
        Lamp-bestarr'd!

O to dream, O to awake and wander
There, and with delight to take and render,
    Through the trance of silence,
        Quiet breath!
Lo! for there, among the flowers and grasses,
Only the mightier movement sounds and passes;
    Only winds and rivers,
        Life and death.

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• D. Steele

D. Steele sets stanza 1

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View text with all available footnotes
First published in the Pall Mall Gazette, December 1894

Confirmed with Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford: Clarendon, 1919, [c1901]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/101/847.html.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "In the highlands", appears in Songs of Travel and other verses, no. 15, first published 1896 [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 George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916), "In the highlands, in the country places", published 1930 [ SSA chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Harold Clark , "In the highlands, in the country places", published <<1951 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by (Henry) Walford Davies, Sir (1869 - 1941), "In the highlands", published 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Twenty-one songs, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (1889 - 1960), "In the highlands", op. 9, published 1928, first performed 1918 [ voice and piano ], note: originally op. 11 [sung text checked 1 time]
by (Gerald) Graham Peel (1878 - 1937), "In the highlands" [sung text checked 1 time]
by Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895 - 1980), "In the highlands " [ voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953), "In the highlands", op. 26 (Two songs) no. 1 (1922), published 1922 [ voice and piano ], London, Elkin [sung text checked 1 time]
by Reginald Chauncey Robbins (1871 - 1955), "In the highlands, in the country places", published c1922 [ baritone, alto, or bass and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Bernice A. Rodewald (b. 1928), "In the highlands, in the country places", 1949 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875 - 1938), "In the highlands, in the country places", published 1910 [ SATB chorus and piano or orchestra ], from In Highland and Meadow,Op.98 [sung text not yet checked]
by Douglas Steele (1910 - 1999), "In the highlands", stanza 1 [ voice and piano ], Manchester, Forsyth Publications [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ronald Stevenson (b. 1928), "In the highlands, in the country places", 1967 [ medium voice and piano ], from Four Robert Louis Stevenson Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by (Thomas) Gerard Victory (1921 - 1995), "In the highlands, in the country places", 1958 [ tenor and SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Hermann Schneider (1860 - 1930) ; composed by Bertram Shapleigh.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 129