A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table

six songs for soprano and piano (or small orchestra)

General Information – Performing Forces – Manuscript – Publication – Recordings – Text

General Information:

Composition:
1962. Orchestral version dates from 1970.

First Performances:
18 July 1962. Hall of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf soprano, Gerald Moore piano.
            Orchestral version:
7 July 1970. Mansion House, London. Dame Janet Baker mezzo-soprano, English Chamber Orchestra, George Malcolm conductor.

Duration:
About 17 minutes

Text:
Various authors from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Selected by Christopher Hassall.
Click here for complete text.

Movements:

Dedication:
"In honour of the City of London"

Craggs Catalogue Number:
C74

Performing Forces:

Soprano

Piano

Orchestral Version:

Soprano solo

Flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon – 2 horns, trumpet – timpani, 2 percussion (side drum, bass drum, tambourine, suspended cymbal, glockenspiel, gong, xylophone, jingles, tubular bells) – harp – strings

Manuscript:

Frederick R. Koch Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Manuscript FRKF 602.
FRKF 602a - Autograph manuscript score, orchestral version. 84 pages.
FRKF 602b - Autograph manuscript score, original version. 33 pages.

Publication:

Oxford University Press. Vocal score, 1963, 019 3458624. Also included in William Walton: A Song Album, 1991, 019 3437597. Full score and parts are available on hire only.
            [Purchase online from SheetMusicPlus.com: A Song Album]

Recordings:

Text:

1.  The Lord Mayor's Table

Let all the Nine Muses lay by their abuses,
Their railing and drolling on tricks of the Strand,
To pen us a ditty in praise of the City,
Their treasure, and pleasure, their pow'r and command.
Their feast, and guest, so temptingly drest,
Their kitchens all kingdoms replenish;
In bountiful bowls they do succour their souls,
With Claret, Canary and Rhenish:
Their lives and wives in plenitude thrives,
They want not for meat nor money;
The Promised Land's in a Londoner's hand,
They wallow in milk and honey.

— Thomas Jordan (1612?–85), 1674

2.  Glide gently

Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
O Thames! that other bards may see
As lovely visions by thy side
As now, fair river! come to me.

O glide, fair stream! for ever so,
Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
Till all our minds for ever flow
As thy deep waters now are flowing.

— William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

3.  Wapping Old Stairs

Your Molly has never been false, she declares,
Since last time we parted at Wapping Old Stairs,
When I swore that I still would continue the same,
And gave you the 'bacco box marked with your name;
When I passed a whole fortnight between decks with you,
Did I e'er give a kiss, Tom, to one of the crew?
To be useful and kind, with my Thomas I stay'd,
For his trousers I wash'd, and his grog, too, I made.

Though you threaten'd, last Sunday, to walk in the Mall
With Susan from Deptford, and likewise with Sal,
In silence I stood your unkindness to hear,
And only upbraided my Tom with a tear:
Why should Sal, or should Susan, than me be more priz'd?
For the hrat that is true, Tom, should ne'er be despis'd:
Then be constant and kind, nor your Molly forsake,
Still your trousers I'll wash, and your grog, too, I'll make.

— Anonymous, 1790

4.  Holy Thursday

'Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two & two, in red & blue & green,
Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of St. Paul's they like Thames' waters flow.

O what a multitude they seem'd, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among.
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor;
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

— William Blake (1757–1827), from Songs of Innocence (1789)

5.  The Contrast

In London I never know what I'd be at,
Enraptured with this and enchanted by that;
I'm wild with the sweets of variety's plan,
And life seems a blessing too happy for man.

But the country, Lord help me! sets all matters right,
So calm and composing from morning to night;
Oh! it settles the spirit when nothing is seen
But an ass on a common, a goose on a green.

Young magpies and stock-doves may flirt among trees,
And chatter their transports in groves, if they please:
But a house is much more to my taste than a tree,
And for groves, Oh! a good grove of chimneys for me.

In the country, if Cupid should find a man out,
The poor tortured victim mopes hopeless about;
But in London, thank Heaven! our peace is secure,
Where for one eye to kill, there's a thousand to cure.

I know love's a devil, too subtle to spy,
That shoots through the soul, from the beam of an eye;
But in London these devils so quick fly about,
That a new devil still drives an old devil out.

— Charles Morris (1745–1838), 1798

6.  Rhyme

Gay go up and gay go down,
To ring the bells of London Town.

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.

Bull's eyes and targets,
Say the bells of St. Marg'ret's.

Brickbat and tiles,
Say the bells of St. Giles'.

Halfpence and farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

Pancakes and fritters,
Say the bells of St. Peter's.

Two sticks and an apple,
Say the bells of White chapel.

Pokers and tongs,
Say the bells of St. John's.

Kettles and pans,
Say the bells of St. Ann's.

Old father baldpate,
Say the slow bells of Aldgate.

You owe me ten shillings,
Say the bells of St. Helen's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

Wehn I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

Pray when will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Say the great bell of Bow.

Gay go up and gay go down,
To ring the bells of London Town.

— Anonymous, 18th century

WilliamWalton.net – Catalogue of Works – Solo Vocal Music