Ivor Gurney - Five Elizabethan Songs
for Choir and Piano

Ivor Gurney composed hundreds of songs in his short life of which the Five Elizabethan Songs are the most well-known. They were composed while he was a student at the Royal College of Music in 1913/14, and have become much-loved pieces of the English song repertoire. They encompass a wide range of emotions, from bright cheerfulness to sombre introspection. This arrangement for choir and piano was made in January 2015 and was first performed by the BBC Singers. Much of the original piano part remains, with new choral textures added and vocal lines re-distributed. Gurney left no particular order for the performance of the set. This new sequence traces a journey from optimistic innocence, through an emotional awakening, ending with the most profound song Sleep.

​Available to purchase from Aria Editions here

Listen to a live performance here:

1. Spring (2’27)
2. Under the greenwood tree (1’52)
3. Tears (2’48)
4. Orpheus (1’53)
5. Sleep (2’56)