By Some Better Name

Daniel Adams, Texas Southern University

Abstract / Program Notes

This song cycle consists of settings of poems by three poets whose lives span the late 18th through the early 20th century, Though the three poems differ from each other in subject matter, all address timeless aspects of Romantic love. Irish soldier and poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) wrote “Had I a Golden Pound” in 1917, the year he lost his life in World War I. The poem portrays a man of limited economic means (possibly a soldier on the front line) describing the life that he would like to provide his beloved were he to acquire more wealth. Scottish poet James Thompson (1834-1882) wrote “Sunday up the River” in 1865. It is the twelfth verse of a larger work entitled “An Idyll of Cockaigne.” The poet vividly describes a man admiring his love’s beauty as she gazes at her reflection in the water. The final setting “Oh, Call it by Some Better Name” (from whence the title of the cycle was derived) is often recited at weddings. It was written by Irish poet, songwriter, and satirist Thomas Moore (1779-1852), once considered the unofficial poet laureate of Ireland. The poem is a perennial reminder that even love is not always a strong enough word to describe feelings between two people. Although the pitch organization and rhythmic structure of each setting is unique, all three songs have in common ostinato-like accompaniment patterns that increase in melodic activity between verses, changing meters, and a variety of rhythmic subdivisions.

Had I a Golden Pound - Francis Ledwidge

HAD I a golden pound to spend,
My love should mend and sew no more.
And I would buy her a little quern,
Easy to turn on the kitchen floor.

And for her windows curtains white,
With birds in flight and flowers in bloom,
To face with pride the road to town,
And mellow down her sunlit room.

And with the silver change we'd prove
The Truth of Love to life's own end,
With hearts the years could but embolden,
Had I a golden pound to spend.

Oh, Call It By Some Better Name - Thomas Moore

Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:

And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o'er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon--
Then call it none of these.

Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:

And if thy lip,
for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!

Sunday up the River - James Thomson

My love o'er the water bends dreaming;
It glideth and glideth away:
She sees there her own beauty, gleaming
Through shadow and ripple and spray.

O tell her, thou murmuring river,
As past her your light wavelets roll,
How steadfast that image for ever
Shines pure in pure depths of my soul.

 

By Some Better Name

This song cycle consists of settings of poems by three poets whose lives span the late 18th through the early 20th century, Though the three poems differ from each other in subject matter, all address timeless aspects of Romantic love. Irish soldier and poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) wrote “Had I a Golden Pound” in 1917, the year he lost his life in World War I. The poem portrays a man of limited economic means (possibly a soldier on the front line) describing the life that he would like to provide his beloved were he to acquire more wealth. Scottish poet James Thompson (1834-1882) wrote “Sunday up the River” in 1865. It is the twelfth verse of a larger work entitled “An Idyll of Cockaigne.” The poet vividly describes a man admiring his love’s beauty as she gazes at her reflection in the water. The final setting “Oh, Call it by Some Better Name” (from whence the title of the cycle was derived) is often recited at weddings. It was written by Irish poet, songwriter, and satirist Thomas Moore (1779-1852), once considered the unofficial poet laureate of Ireland. The poem is a perennial reminder that even love is not always a strong enough word to describe feelings between two people. Although the pitch organization and rhythmic structure of each setting is unique, all three songs have in common ostinato-like accompaniment patterns that increase in melodic activity between verses, changing meters, and a variety of rhythmic subdivisions.

Had I a Golden Pound - Francis Ledwidge

HAD I a golden pound to spend,
My love should mend and sew no more.
And I would buy her a little quern,
Easy to turn on the kitchen floor.

And for her windows curtains white,
With birds in flight and flowers in bloom,
To face with pride the road to town,
And mellow down her sunlit room.

And with the silver change we'd prove
The Truth of Love to life's own end,
With hearts the years could but embolden,
Had I a golden pound to spend.

Oh, Call It By Some Better Name - Thomas Moore

Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:

And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o'er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon--
Then call it none of these.

Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:

And if thy lip,
for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!

Sunday up the River - James Thomson

My love o'er the water bends dreaming;
It glideth and glideth away:
She sees there her own beauty, gleaming
Through shadow and ripple and spray.

O tell her, thou murmuring river,
As past her your light wavelets roll,
How steadfast that image for ever
Shines pure in pure depths of my soul.