Queen Mary's Song

"Queen Mary's Song" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1889. The words are by Tennyson, sung by Queen Mary I of England as she plays a lute in scene 2, act 5 of his 1875 play Queen Mary: A Drama.

It was composed between 14 June and 1 July 1889, and dedicated to J. H. Meredith, an honorary member of the Worcester Amateur Instrumental Society.

The song was first published by Osborn & Tuckwood in 1889, then by Ascherberg in 1892. It was re-published in 1907 as one of the Seven Lieder, with English and German words. The German translator, one unidentified Ed. Sachs, named the song "", confusing the Stuart Mary, Queen of Scots with the Tudor Mary I of England.

Lyrics

Words used by Tennyson

Words used by Elgar and German translation by Ed. Sachs

Recordings

• Songs & Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "Queen Mary's Song" performed by Amanda Pitt (soprano), with David Owen Norris (piano).
• Elgar: Complete Songs for Voice & Piano Konrad Jarnot (baritone), Reinild Mees (piano)
• The Songs of Edward Elgar, SOMM CD 220, Catherine Wyn-Rogers (soprano) with Malcolm Martineau (piano), at Southlands College, London, April 1999

Other versions

Other settings of poems from Tennyson's Queen Mary include songs by

• Charles Villiers Stanford, incidental music to Queen Mary, Op. 6, including "The Lute Song {Mary's Song)" and "The Milkmaid's Song", 1876;
• Kate Loder, "Queen Mary's Song", an undated manuscript signed with her married name Kate Thompson;
• Horatio Parker, two songs: "Milkmaid's Song" and "Lute Song", 1904.

References

External links

• , Felicity Lott, Joseph Middleton