Echo’s Lament
COMPOSER’S NOTE
The piano depicts the gentle flowing of the fountain which the poet, Ben Johnson (1572-1637), sees as a mirroring of grief and sorrow. The solo soprano voice conveys the deeper nuances of the text with broken, ‘sighing’ phrases and, at points of climax, with more expansive sweeping statements.
DURATION
4 minutes
SOLOIST
Soprano
INSTRUMENTATION
Piano
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2015
PUBLISHER
Hawes Music
SHEET MUSIC
Available from
Hawes Music
Echo’s Lament for Narcissus (from Cynthia’s Revels)
Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears;
Yet, slower yet; O faintly, gentle springs;
List to the heavy part the music bears;
Woe weeps out her division when she sings. Droop herbs and flowers;
Fall grief in showers,
Our beauties are not ours;
O, I could still,
Like melting snow upon some craggy hill, Drop, drop, drop, drop,
Since nature’s pride is now a withered daffodil.
Words: Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
