The Long Day Closes (song)

For the 1992 British film, named after the song, see The Long Day Closes (film).

The Long Day Closes is a part song with lyrics by Henry Fothergill Chorley and music by Arthur Sullivan, published in 1868.[1] It has become Sullivan's best-known part song, and is one of seven that he published that year.[2] Sullivan wrote most of his twenty part songs prior to the beginning of his long collaboration with W. S. Gilbert.[1] Chorley had also collaborated with Sullivan on other songs, on Sullivan's first (but never-produced) opera, The Sapphire Necklace (completed in 1867), and on a piece for chorus and orchestra, The Masque at Kenilworth (Birmingham Festival, 1864).[1]

With the growth of choral societies during the Victorian era, part songs became popular in Britain.[3] The plaintive harmonies of The Long Day Closes and the text's touching meditation on death have made the song a frequent selection at events of mourning. Musicologist Jeremy Dibble observes that in particular, it was often sung at funerals of members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.[4]

On 16 December 1879, Sullivan attended a concert at the Mendelssohn Glee Club in New York, where the song was on the programme. He remarked in his diary that it had been 'admirably sung and encored'.[5]

Jeremy Dibble believes that one of the work's most attractive qualities is the way Sullivan has skilfully manipulated Chorley's text to create a modified ternary scheme. He says that it has remained popular in both its original version for men's voices, and the later arrangement for mixed choir.[4]

Terence Davies's 1992 film The Long Day Closes uses a recording of the song by Pro Cantione Antiqua[6] singing the song a cappella.[7] Carl Davis included the theme from the song in his instrumental score for the 1999 Mike Leigh film Topsy-Turvy, along with themes from most of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.[8] Another recording was included in the 1999 album Sullivan: The Masque at Kenilworth – Music for Royal and National Occasions, sung by the Oxford Pro Musica Singers.[9]

Lyrics

No star is o'er the lake,
Its pale watch keeping,
The moon is half awake,
Through grey mist creeping,
The last red leaves fall round
The porch of roses,
The clock hath ceased to sound,
The long day closes.
Sit by the silent hearth
In calm endeavour,
To count the sounds of mirth,
Now dumb for ever.
Heed not how hope believes
And fate disposes:
Shadow is round the eaves,
The long day closes.
The lighted windows dim
Are fading slowly.
The fire that was so trim
Now quivers lowly.
Go to the dreamless bed
Where grief reposes;
Thy book of toil is read,
The long day closes, etc.

Source[10]

Recordings

Performers Album Year Label
Oxford Pro Musica Singers The Masque at Kenilworth: Music for Royal and National Occasions 1999 Symposium
The King's Singers Romance Du Soir 2009 Signum Classics
Hilliard Ensemble The Romantic Englishman 2009 Duo
Pro Cantione Antiqua Traditional Glees and Madrigals 2010 Alto
Quartonal Another Way: English Vocal Music 2013 Sony
Polyteknikkojen Kuoro Laululla 2017 Polyteknikkojen Kuoro
Kantos Chamber Choir Sullivan Part Songs 2020 MPR
Amarcord Meisterklasse 2022 Apollon Classics
The Sixteen Sirens' Song 2023 CORO
Tenebrae A Prayer for Deliverance 2025 Signum Classics
VOCES8 Choral music from across the centuries 2025 BBC Music Magazine

Sources: WorldCat and Apple Classical

References

  1. ^ a b c Jacobs, Arthur (1984). Arthur Sullivan, a Victorian musician. Internet Archive. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-315443-8.
  2. ^ Bradley, Ian (22 July 2013). Lost Chords and Christian Soldiers: The Sacred Music of Arthur Sullivan. SCM Press. ISBN 978-0-334-04993-7.
  3. ^ Wells, Samuel; Earis, Andrew (16 January 2025). Great Sacred Music: A resource book for mission through music. Canterbury Press. ISBN 978-1-78622-574-0.
  4. ^ a b Dibble, Jeremy (2023). Sirens' Song (CD liner notes). All Hallow's Church, London: The Sixteen Productions Ltd.
  5. ^ Ainger, Michael (21 November 2002). Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534900-9.
  6. ^ Stevenson, Joseph. Pro Cantione Antiqua – Biography, Allmusic, accessed 16 April 2012
  7. ^ "Sound And The Fury: Terence Davies" Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine, BFI Sight and Sound, April 2007, accessed 16 April 2012
  8. ^ The Cambridge companion to Gilbert and Sullivan. Internet Archive. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-521-88849-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ Shepherd, Marc. "Sullivan: The Masque at Kenilworth – Music for Royal and National Occasions", Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 12 April 2009
  10. ^ Moyer, Willard (1903). The Witchery of Sleep. New York Public Library: Ostermoor. p. 138.
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