Note; The photo at the beginning of the libretto is that of a maternal side grand aunt Kathleen Monica Boland whose piano I inherited at the age of 9 and whose domestic life was similar to that of Emily Bronte [complete with live in Irish Branwell]. There is a family story that when I was a very young age I had a private conversation with my grandfather T.J.Boland and we discussed highly personal matters only he and his sister Kathleen knew about. I can't remember the incident of course but I thought it would be handy to draw on any such abstract connections to try and align myself with the internal music of the poems. I included Kathleen's photo on the libretto page to indicate this. YK
Photo taken one year after the W.H.S.C. music was written.
Little did I realise how long the next stage would take.
W.H.S.C owes its stubborn but fragile existence to
The Three Kathleens: Boland, Sargent and Bush
The Three Peters: Drew, Van Der Helder and Carolan
The Three City Slickers: Jones, Bolton and Stafford
The Three Lake Barrine Moorlanders: Roger, Gillian and Robert
The Three Kuranda Inmates: Graham, Kim and Bruce
The Three Cheerleaders: Angie, Greg and Alan
and
Brother Paul who found the BACH album North side of Walsh's Pyramid
Updates 29.6.21: New personal detail in intro added. 13.7.21 Previous tracks 35 "Come Hither Child" 36 "In Summer's Mellow Midnight" [aka Springtide's Mellow Midnight"] and 47 "Tell Me Tell Me Smiling Child " have been reluctantly deleted for music dynamics reasons so all songs after those positions have revised numbering
EDITS:
2 Stern Reason Is To Judgement Come [ex Oh Thy Bright Eyes Must Answer Now] / "Oh thy bright ... chosen thee" deleted / "her forms of gloom" changed to "the forms of gloom' /"Wilt thou ... speak and say" / changed "Why I did cast" to "Why did I cast ..." / "Why I have" to "Why have I " / deleted " These once ... grant my prayer" / changed Speak God of visions plead for me" to "Speak guide of choices distant and near "/ changed "chosen thee" to "chosen here"
3 All Hushed And Still / line 2 changed “driving rain” to “storm lashed moors”/ line 4 changed “through rain and through the wailing wind” to “through snow and storm and wailing wind” / line 8 changed “as real as thine” to “as real as yours”
4 Redbreast Early In The Morning / lines 1 - 13 “redbreast…calm” deleted / line 11/ deleted "it then" line 14 / line 16 changed “moonlight mild” to “moonlight”/ line 18 deleted “then you heard it too” / line 20 changed “the shriek of misery” to “a shriek of misery
5 I Did Not Sleep / lines 1- 8 “twas noon ..sabbath bell” deleted / lines 9 -11 “remembrance still ...am sure” deleted / lines 13-22 “or else…stretched between” deleted / line 25 “my monarch ..forever” deleted / line 27 “and dear..doubly dear” deleted / line 28 change ‘the silent tomb” to ”a sighing tomb”
7 Well Narrower Draw the Circe Round / line 2 “that organs solemn sound” changed to “that music's solemn sound”
8 Heavy Hangs The Raindrop / line 33 changed “wither brothers” to “wither brother” / line 34 changed “you were vainly given” “your life was vainly given”
10 Child Of delight / lines 1,2,3 deleted “with sun bright...you here” deleted lines 5 to 8 “thou shouldest…youthful years” / line 13 deleted “the image of light and gladness” line 14 deleted “that”/ line 15 changed “his gloomy sadness” to “your gloomy sadness” /line 16 changed “gave to him” to “give to you” / line 21 changed “he lacks” to “you lack” / line 22 changed ”he need not fear” to “you need not fear”
13 On A Sunny Brae / deleted lines 4-8 “from her…his arms” / deleted lines 15,16 ”the very …you here” / deleted line 18 “in sooth… not know” / line 52 [b] inserted “dying memories” / line 58 changed “his way” to “:the way”/ line 59 changed “hasten him” to “hasten on”
14 Light Up The Halls / deleted lines 13 – 24 “and now .. dark decline” / deleted lines 29 -32 “How gloomy…from home”/ line 33 "thy breath" changed to "a breath"
15 Now Trust A Heart / deleted lines 5 -16 “unless there...ever smiled”
17 From Our Evening Fireside Now / deleted lines 13 – 16 “for past…lies before” / deleted lines 21 – 39 “Arthur brother…despair but” / line 39 changed “life was flown” to “life has flown”
22 Companions All Day Long We’ve Stood / lines 1 & 3 changed "we've" to "they've" / line 4 changed "our" to "their" / deleted lines 25 -28 “Edmunds steed…the tide” / deleted lines 33 -52 “Mine own …cabin room”/ line 31 changed "his" to "the"/ line 32 changed "his" to "mine"
23 Silent Is The House / Charlotte Bronte [maybe] version used with added lines 25 – 40 “But neither…my constancy”
25 The Night Of Storms / line 23 changed “ranny” to “uncanny”
27 Thou Standest In The
28 The Wind Was Rough / deleted lines 5 -9 “we wander…ghostly whiteness”
29 The Linnet In the Rocky Dells / line 4 changed “my lady” to “a lady” / line 28 changed “my lady” to “a lady”
30 How Clear She Shines / deleted lines 5 – 16 “yes fancy..neer beguilded” / deleted lines 29 - 32 “ where writhing…the while”
31 How Few Of All The Hearts / line 1 deleted “that loved” / deleted lines 11 – 16 “All virtues…mourner gay”
32 O Transient Voyager Of Heaven / deleted lines 21 – 24 “the dearest…plains below”
34 Cold In The Earth / line 9 changed “fifteen” to “eighteen”
line 4 "the helpless ... as we" deleted / inserted "that crushed all childhood sanctuary"
lines 5 - 39 "but they ...but " deleted
line 40 "terror's" changed to "futile"
lines 44 - 46 :By force 'I learnt ... filled the grave '' deleted
lines 51 -54 "i've often witnessed ...brave with awe" deleted
line 57 "reveal it" changed to "reveal as"
lines 58 - 258 "it as they died ... rescue him his" deleted
line 258 - 259 "his child we kept alive" changed to "a child they kept alive
lines 260 - 261 “But she was … we hate hell” deleted
line 262 “and weary with her savage woe” changed to "and weary with the weeks of woe”
36 Ah Why Because The Dazzling Sun / deleted lines 21-24 “blood red”… “and low”
38 It Was The End Of Day / lines 1-4 "heavens glory ... in thine" deleted / line 5 changed "It was a summers day" to "It was the end of day"
39 Aye There It Is / line 5 changed “thine” to “my” / line 6 changed “thy” to “my” / line seven changed “thou” to “ I” / line 11 changed “thy” to “my”/ line 18 changed “then” to “my” / line 21 changed “that” to “the” / line 22 changed ”thy” to “my”
43 Cold Clear And Blue / line 3
44 All Day I've Toiled / line 18 "healthful" changed to "helpful"
46 The Night Was Dark / line 2 changed “Gondals” to “heavens” / deleted lines 25 – 32 “Her wavy..was bending”/ deleted lines 37 – 40 “when thick…hills again” / deleted lines 49 – 56 “and the…glazing eye”
47 Often Rebuked / line 10 Added sarcastic quotation marks to 'high morality" to emphasize Bronte's distaste for social hypocrisy.
48 "Now Coward Soul Is Mine" / "his might" changed to "its might"
49 The Sun Has Set / line 2 “drearily” changed to “dreaming” / lines 3 - 8 “and the wild…heathy sea” deleted /
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