Dirge Cymbeline

Subject: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Deskjet
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 12:59 PM

I'm looking for a recording of the dirge from Cymbeline -
"Fear no more the heat of the sun....."
I sang this as a schoolboy in the 70's, and this is the version I'd like to hear again - (if indeed there are different versions that have been recorded).
Anyone?

Subject: Lyr Add: CYMBELINE (Shakespeare, McKennitt)
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 02:25 PM

Cymbeline


Words by William Shakespeare
Music by Loreena McKennitt


Fear no more the heat o' the sun
Nor the furious winters' rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' th' great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak.
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust.

All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning flash,
Nor th' all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan.
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee and come to dust.


from the CD - The Visit


Charlotte (the Sunday view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: RTim
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 03:15 PM

Way way back in time it was recorded by "The Barrow Poets" on their first recording, however it was spoken not sung - I think?

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: RTim
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 03:20 PM

Amazing - I found a reference to the recording - and it's for sale on Ebay. - Tim R

Unusual UK LP by The Barrow Poets titled The Barrow Poets Present an Enterntainment of Poetry and Music" on Argo Record label PLP 1072 from 1963.

Speakers: William Bealby-Wright, Gerard Benson, Heather Black, John Boulton Smith, William Gardener, Alison Milne, John Naylor, Christine Shotton.

Musicians: Susan Baker - Violin, Lorna Gregson - Oboe.

Tracks:

Ploughing on Sunday/ Pigtown Reel/ Oh See How Thick the Goldcup Flowers/ True to Poll/ Rigaudon/ Ach, I Dunno/ Kind are Her Answers/ Slice of Wedding Cake/ Nora Criona/ Irish Jig/ Off the Ground/ Evening Prayer/ Helen of Kirkconnell/ John Kinsella's Lament for Mrs. Mary Moore/ Po' Boy/ Spinning Song/ Request/ How they Brought the Good News from Aix to Ghent/ Wha Lies Here?/ 104th Chorus/ The Frog/ Laendler/ Blow Me Eyes/ Lines from "Betsy Lee"/ When I was One and Twenty/ Linden Lea/ Fair are the Flowers in the Valley/ Extract from the Sonf of Solomon/ Day of These Days/ Dirge from Cymbeline/ Air/ Lessons of War Part II/ Judging Distances/ Kissed Yestreen/ Extract from "Don Juan"/ Allegro/ I Do, I Will, I Have/ Northumbrian Duet.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Deskjet
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 04:24 PM

Thanks all - but does anyone know of a sung version recorded 70's or earlier?

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 06:20 PM

Deskjet, if the 1963 one not what you were looking for?

There are a bunch of recordings of Barrow Poets available at THIS SITE

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Deskjet
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 06:23 PM

Hi Katlaughing - As I read it that is a spoken record of the dirge.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Deskjet
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 06:27 PM

One more last time.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 07:20 PM

Googling with "composer" in the search string reveals settings by Philip Rosseter (maybe the most likely to turn up in the folk revival?), Finzi, Zemlinsky, John Dankworth, Andrew Ford (who?), John Cook (ditto?), Roger Quilter (presumably dull as fuck), Thomas Arne (presumably much-sung once), Michael Hurd (juvenilia), Dominic Muldowney (he's okay), Vaughan Williams (another one that might have made it into the folk repertoire), Stephen Sondheim (presumably even more bumnumbingly tedious and lacking in any flicker of melodic imagination than Quilter) etc etc...

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 07:54 PM

I doubt if we're talking 'folk repertoire' since the original enquirer speaks of having sung a setting 'as a schoolboy' (and, in the absence of any specific information, we may as well assume that also means 'at school') in the 1970s.

The Arne or Vaughan Williams settings would seem most likely in the circumstances, though if any of the others named published a children's setting in the '60s or early '70s that would also be a possibility. Loreena McKennitt and the Barrow Poets are irrelevant to the question, but I suppose forewarned is forearmed.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Saro
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 01:09 PM

Hi, I also sang this in school, and I'm pretty sure it was a classical piece, nothing at all folky about the music as I remember. I'd guess at Roger Quilter though couldnt be sure. Interesting to hear Jack Campin's description of Quilter's music...good job we don't all have the same taste, isn't it. I'd be interested to find out, if you get to the end of your seach. Another name that occurs to me is C. Armstrong Gibbs - worth a try?
Saro
My experience of it was a little earlier - more like 60s.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: Deskjet
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 02:06 PM

I have emailed RV WIlliams site about a recording of his version.
Awaiting reply.
Thanks to all for inputs.
I'll follow leads up as best I can and let you know how I get on.

Subject: RE: Dirge Cymbeline
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 02:43 PM

Deskjet, good luck in your searching...and ignore self opinionated twats, they're seldom constructive in a constructive search.

Charlotte (likes Roger Quilter, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gerald Finzi, Thomas Arne, and thinks Jack Campin's musical education is sadly lacking)