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Forest Song (2016)

for SATB choir and piano

Text: Oliver Goldsmith (1794-1861)
Duration: 4 minutes 30 seconds
Difficulty: 1/4

Winner of the 20th Anniversary Choral Competition by the Cantabile Choirs of Kingston.

First performed by the Cantabile Summer Chorus (Mark Sirett, dir.) with Clare Gordon, piano, in June 2016.

Forest Song adapts a beautiful poem from the pre-Confederation Canadian poet Oliver Goldsmith, describing the stillness and magic beauty of a forest scene at night. The music is set in three large sections, shifting between warm harmonies and bright piano textures.

Click here to see the complete score.

The audio below is a live recording of the premiere performance by the Cantabile Summer Chorus in June 2016.

Full Text

Look round, Therese, how soft these scenes appear,
How calm, how beautiful, and still;
No sound now breaks upon the listening ear.

So calm it is, the zephyrs of the air
Now sleep on every fragrant rose;
In dewy softness resting linger there,
Till morning wakes them from repose.

And look, how softly does the queen of night
Descend along the cloudless skies;
In beauty shining by her lover’s light,
And ever following as he flies.

At such a time when nature’s magic powers
Present a scene so pure as this,
’Tis said of old that angels left their bowers,
To taste on earth a mortal’s bliss.