Midnight Lamentation Op.6

Composed: 1974
Duration: 4 minutes
First Performance: June 1985, at Sherborne School, Dorset, given by Richard Bridge, with the composer at the piano.
Available from: Novello and Co

This setting of Midnight Lamentation by Harold Monro is the composer’s earliest song, written when the composer was 19 years old. It has been described by the composer Michael Hurd as a ‘perfect setting’.

It is a powerful interpretation of a profoundly moving poem, and has all the fingerprints of Venables’ mature style: primarily a strong melodic gift, coupled with a highly sensitive approach to word-painting. There is a simplicity in its harmonic language that allows the profundity of the poem to be balanced perfectly with the music. It is loosely strophic in form with the final stanza providing its musical climax.

Music Sample: Midnight Lamentation Op. 6

© Ian Venables