Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, and Future see;
Whose ears have heard
the Holy Word
That walked among the ancient trees,

Calling the lapsed Soul 
And weeping in the evening dew
That might control
the starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!

"O earth, O earth, return!
Arise from out the dewy grass;
Night is worn, 
and the morn
rises from the slumbering mass.

"Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
the watery shore,
Is given thee till break of day."

J. Dove sets stanzas 3-4

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Text Authorship:

• by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Introduction", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 1, first published 1794 [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 William Bolcom (b. 1938), "Hear the voice of the Bard", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume One, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "Introd.", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 16 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Norman Curtis (b. 1933), "The voice of the ancient bard", c1959 [ voice and piano ], from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 15 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jonathan Dove (b. 1959), "Invocation", 2000, stanzas 3-4, from The Passing of the Year, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "Hear the voice of the Bard", 1938, published c1975 [ high voice and piano ], from Hesperides: Fifty Songs by John Edmunds -- or The Fortunate Isles, Georgetown, CA : Dragon's Teeth Press [sung text not yet checked]
• by David Andross Farquhar (1928 - 2007), "Hear the voice of the bard", 1947-9 [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "Introduction", op. 27a no. 1 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by David Haines (b. 1956), "Introduction (Hear the voice of the bard)", 1972-9, rev. 1984, first performed 1979 [ high voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by John H. Harbison (b. 1938), "Hear the voice of the bard", 1971, published c1975, first performed 1973 [ four soli, SATB chorus, string quartet, and percussion ], from Five Songs of Experience, no. 1, New York, Associated Music Publishers [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gary Michael Higginson (b. 1952), "The voice of the ancient bard", op. 55 no. 7 (1981-2) [ SATB chorus with divisions a cappella ], from Seven Songs of William Blake, Set II, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Holbrooke (1878 - 1958), as Evan Meredith, "Hear the Bard, from "Blake"", published c1934 [ chorus and piano ], London : Modern Music Library [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Jenkyn Jones (1912 - 1993), "Hear the voice of the ancient bard", 1977, first performed 1977 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Hear the Voice of the Ancient Bard, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Herbert) Kelsey Jones (b. 1922), "Introd.", 1958, first performed 1958 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joan Littlejohn (b. 1937), "Introd.", 1967-70, first performed 1971 [ voice and piano ], from Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, Part II : Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Otto Luening (1900 - 1996), "Hear the voice of the Bard ", 1928, published 1957 [ bass-baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1, New York, High Gate Press (Galaxy) [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Mitchell (b. 1941), "The voice of the Bard", op. 25 no. 1 (1977), from Visions from the Flame, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by (James) Gordon Myers (b. 1919), "Hear the voice of the bard", 1947, first performed 1947 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sarah L. Rodgers (b. 1953), "Introd.", first performed 1984 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Six Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Schwartz (1907 - 1999), "The voice of the Bard", 196-? [ voice and piano ], from Blake Songs, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Elie Siegmeister (1909 - 1991), "The voice of the bard", 1966, published 1979 [ alto or bass voice, viola, and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1, NY : C. Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leo Smith (1881 - 1952), "Introduction ", 1941 [ medium voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leo Smith (1881 - 1952), "Hear the voice of the bard", 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "Introduction", c1931, first performed 1975 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Gary Michael Higginson (b. 1952), "The voice of wisdom and Earth's answer", op. 55 no. 1 (1981-2) [ SATB chorus with divisions a cappella ], from Seven Songs of William Blake, Set II, no. 1
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    
• by Sven-David Sandström (b. 1942), "Spring -- Introduction -- Earth's answer", 1978, published c1983, first performed 1983 [ double mixed chorus a cappella ], note : texts are intermixed ; Stockholm : Nordika Musikförlaget
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    

Researcher for this page: Victoria Brago

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 90