Humphrey Clucas is known for a wide range ofChoral and vocal music, alongside a growing body of instrumental music, and this beautiful and evocative song is set to words by A.E. Housman. Originally for voice and lute, Evenfall also works well with piano accompaniment and the edition includes three versions.
The accompaniment is simple and supportive, allowing the flowing melody to soar above, with a tonal and accessible style which should appeal to singers of all ages and abilities.
“When I was asked to write a song for high voice and lute, this poem immediately suggested itself. It was written by a teenage A.E. Housman for a home entertainment, and was to be sung by Lady Jane Grey while awaiting her execution. It seems not to have been set before.
The lute part, though proclaiming its origin, adapts quite comfortably for the piano. Other possibilities are harpsichord (electronic or otherwise) or guitar.” [Humphrey Clucas, 2009)
Evenfall by A.E. Housman (1859-1936)
Breathe, my lute, beneath my fingers One regretful breath, One lament for life that lingers Round the doors of death. For the frost has killed the rose, And our Summer dies in snows, And our morning once for all Gathers to the evenfall.
Hush, my lute, return to sleeping, Sing no songs again. For the reaper stays his reaping On the darkened plain; And the day has drained its cup, And the twilight cometh up; Song & sorrow all that are Slumber at the evenstar.
Look Inside
Humphrey Clucas was born in 1941 and read English at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was also a Choral Scholar. Having taught English for twenty- seven years he subsequently became a Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey but is now retired.
As a composer he is self-taught, and although he is well-known for a set of Anglican Responses written as an undergraduate, almost all his serious music has been written over the last twenty-five years. He has a growing reputation as a choral composer and has produced an impressive and steady stream of choral works, both sacred and secular, alongside much instrumental music.
He has written works for Cathedrals in Chichester, Guildford, Salisbury and Winchester, as well as for King’s College, Cambridge, Southwell Minster and Westminster Abbey.
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