Sorrowfull Songes (2012)

Sorrowfull Songes (2012)
for choir

Sorowfull Songes is a setting of five poems by Sir Thomas Wyatt, that reflect on the fragility of human happiness, sometimes soulfully as in the first song with its extended tenor solo, sometimes playfully ironic, as in second and fourth songs, and sometimes secretively, as in the third song's dark chorale. The fifth song - the longest of the set - strives to find enough optimism to 'sing some pleasant song'.

Sorowfull Songes was commissioned by BBC Radio Three for the 2012 Proms season and premiered by Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short.

Julian Philips, 2023