![]() This recording comes from Ian Bostridge’s 1999 album, The English Songbook. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. Gardens VOLUME TWO : FRANCE H 1433, M 1432 including Hear. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree. LYRICS M 2994 The Temple Bells, Less than the Dust, Kashmiri Song, Till I Wake BENJAMIN BRITTEN. The poem is by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats: Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. Also listen for the sudden harmonic surprise on the word “foolish.” Britten’s setting of The Salley Gardens is a great reminder of the sublime expressive power of simplicity. Listen to the way this piano line returns with interjections throughout the song. Words by William Butler Yeats telling of leaves, grass, natural imagery, and a tragic story of young love bring this music to life. Composer Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. In a field by the river my love and I did stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand. ![]() She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree. ![]() In the opening, haunting three-note fragments seem to be searching for a way forward. Down by the Salley Gardens is a well-known Irish folk song - just one of the collection arranged by Benjamin Britten, and published in 1943. Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. An undercurrent of continuous eighth notes runs throughout the song, suggesting a static, dreamlike atmosphere…a sense of motion within timelessness. Benjamin Britten’s 1943 setting of the Irish folk song, The Salley Gardens seems to float in midair with a surreal, hypnotic beauty. ![]()
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