Where Corals Lie
"Where Corals Lie" is a poem by Richard Garnett which was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar as the fourth song in his song-cycle Sea Pictures. The poem was first published in Io in Egypt and other poems in 1859 and subsequently anthologized in Sea Music in 1888.[1]
Lyrics
(Italicised text indicates lines repeated in the song, but not in the original poem.)[2]
The deeps have music soft and low
When winds awake the airy spry,
It lures me, lures me on to go
And see the land where corals lie.
The land, the land, where corals lie.
By mount and mead, by lawn and rill,
When night is deep, and moon is high,
That music seeks and finds me still,
And tells me where the corals lie.
And tells me where the corals lie.
Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well,
Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well,
But far the rapid fancies fly
To rolling worlds of wave and shell,
And all the land where corals lie.
Thy lips are like a sunset glow,
Thy smile is like a morning sky,
Yet leave me, leave me, let me go
And see the land where corals lie.
The land, the land, where corals lie.
Elgar's setting
Elgar's music is in the key of
It was the most popular of the songs in Sea Pictures.[5] In this musical form, it was a great favourite in Britain, appearing in the classical favourites programme, Your Hundred Best Tunes.
Notable recordings
- Dame Clara Butt — 1912 [6]
- Maartje Offers —1928 [6]
- Dame Janet Baker— 1965 [7]
These New Puritans include a reworking of Where Corals Lie on their 2010 album Hidden.
For a full list of recordings, see the Sea Pictures page.
References
- ISBN 9781843831747
- ISBN 9781115444897
- ^ Brendan Beales (6 April 2008), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Programme for performance at the Royal Albert Hall
- ISBN 9780198165576
- ISBN 9781110533343
- ^ ISBN 9780521331555
- ISBN 9780140515305