When the rose is faded - (2009)

Walter de la Mare
for
high voice and piano
When
the rose is faded,
Memory may still dwell on
Her beauty shadowed,
And the sweet smell gone.
That vanishing loveliness,
That burdening breath
No bond of life hath then
Nor grief of death.
'Tis the immortal thought
Whose passion still
Makes of the changing
The unchangeable.
Oh, thus thy beauty,
Loveliest on earth to me,
Dark with no sorrow, shines
And burns, with Thee.
[ 3
pages, circa 3' 10" ]

Walter de la Mare
The
rose as a symbol of love and devotion is a widely known cultural icon, which
poets have used in many ways. It is the messenger of love, the token of love
lost and in this poem a parallel and metaphor for the object of grief. A
remarkable poem, its images begin darkly and with the motion into that "dark
with no sorrow" rises to love again.

The
more somber character of D minor begins in a dirge-like fashion, the
scansion of the poem suggesting an alteration between 3/4 and 4/4 measures,
spelled so for ease of reading as the phrase lengths then are the resulting
seven beats each. The widely spaced accompaniment suggests a sparseness,
while the vocal line rises emotionally at the words "beauty" and again
"life" to affirm the brighter thoughts which result from beginning with a
dark musing.

The
highest of the vocal line comes as the accompaniment's dynamic becomes forte
and more, with "beauty" and "loveliest" overcoming the seeming darkness to
become "darkness with no sorrow." For this the minor tonic yields to its
relative major tonic, and the meter becomes regular, breaking from the seven
beat phrase. The setting ends quietly in a reserved and settled
manner.

The score for
When the rose is faded is available as a free PDF download, though any
major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without
prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this
piano-vocal score.

When the rose is faded
