A survey of songs based on A Shropshire Lad, a cycle of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman, published in 1896. While a student at Oxford, Housman fell in love with one of his fellow students, Moses Jackson, an athletic young man who became his friend but who could not reciprocate his love. Convinced that he must live without love, Housman became reclusive and began to write the poems that eventually made up A Shropshire Lad. Initially the collection sold slowly, but during the Second Boer War, Housman’s nostalgic depiction of rural life and the premature death of young men resonated with English readers and the book became a bestseller.
Moses Jackson, left (Unknown author); A. E. Housman, right (Photo: E. O. Hoppé)
Playlist
Playlist to include Housman settings by George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney, Arthur Somervell, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Ian Venables. Click on poem titles to read full text.
“With rue my heart is laden“
Setting by Butterworth from Bredon Hill and Other Songs from A Shropshire Lad
Roderick Williams, baritone
Iain Burnside, piano
The English Song Series Vol 20: Butterworth
Naxos 8.572426
“White in the moon the long road lies“
Setting by Somervell from A Shropshire Lad
Simon Keenlyside, baritone
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Songs of War
Sony 88697944242
“Far in a western brookland“
Setting by Gurney from Ludlow and Teme
Brian Giebler, tenor
String quartet: Katie Hyun, Ben Russell, violins; Jessica Meyer, viola; Michael Katz, cello
Stephen McGhee, piano
A Lad’s Love
Bridge Records BRIDGE-9542
“Loveliest of trees“
“When I was one-and twenty“
Setting by Butterworth from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad
Thomas Allen, baritone
Geoffrey Parsons, piano
On the Idle Hill of Summer
Virgin Classics 91105-2
“Look not in my eyes“
Setting by Butterworth from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad
(Williams/Burnside)
‘The lads in their hundreds“
Setting by Butterworth from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad
John Brancy, baritone
Peter Dugan, piano
Private recording used with permission of artists
“Is my team ploughing?“
Setting by Butterworth from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad
Christopher Maltman, baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano
Songs of Travel
Hyperion CDA-67378
“Far I hear the bugle blow (The Day of Battle)”
Alan Bates, reader
A E Housman: A Shropshire Lad complete in verse and song
Hyperion CDD-22044
“Twice a week the winter thorough (Goal and Wicket)“
“The street sounds to the soldiers’ tread (The Encounter)“
“If truth in hearts that perish (The Vain Desire)”
Setting by Ireland from The Land of Lost Content
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Graham Johnson, piano
A E Housman: A Shropshire Lad complete in verse and song
Hyperion CDD-22044
“In summertime on Bredon (Bredon Hill)“
Setting by Vaughan Williams from On Wenlock Edge
Andrew Kennedy, tenor
Dante Quartet
Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
On Wenlock Edge
Signum Classics SIGCD-112
“Because I liked you better” (from More Poems)
Setting by Venables from Songs of Eternity and Sorrow, Op. 36a
(Giebler/String Quartet/McGhee)
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