To John and Myfanwy Piper Benjamin Britten Winter Words Op. 52 ; Lyrics and Ballads of Thomas Hardy for High Voice and Piano Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited London + Paris - Bonn - Johannesburg - Sydney - Toronto » New York1. At day-close. in November Quick and impetuous (d.- 69) > PIANO St hours’ light is = tf late bird wings. Where the > like walt - zers ing, wait - ing,....... pines, i > AMl rights reserved ‘Tonsittning forbjades Copyright 1984 by Boosey & Co,Ltd. B&H. 17563 Printed in EnglandGive their black heads a that -yel- low the specks, like specks in the b, set ev-ry tree... pp sweetly — And the chil - dren ram-ble through here...... ver has been A \E no tall trees B.” H. 175682 Midnight on the Great Western Very slow (or The Journeying Boy) PIANO Ba. * Ba. * Fe on | With deliberate movement (¢ : 68) Verse 1p << er = Se Sp Oe a = ee FES % without pedal Tsim. ett the Jour = Tn P. i 2 = oe And the roof - lamps oil - y flame Play’d down Had a tic-kef | stuck; and a string Around his neck oe, ye bebe hebben. 4 aoe with pedal Tmo notes in brackets should be silently depressed before releasing the pedal. All rights reserved Sopyright 1954 by Boosey & Co,Ltd. B.& H. 17568on his list-less form and face,. bore the key of his box, That twink P Or whence he P SSeS ee Like a liv - ing b. came, cr whence .. B&H 17508Slow __p freely What past can be yours, With deliberate movement. ——— = 3 neying freely =—— » oo nf _ orese. To-wards a world un-known, Who calm-ly, if in-cu-rious = a stake, can un-der-takeThis plunge..... B.& H. 17568pushing forward With deliberate movement Pp Knows your soul... be Fe express, realms ——_ vf, cad with Ped, marked ~——— bove, Whence with spa - cious vis-ion you mark and marked + B.& H. 17568B.& H. 175683. Wagtail and Baby (A Satire) sweetly VOICE PIANO. ‘watch’d a ford, where - to San. (sim.) A blar - ing bull went wa - ding Ba. Ba. All rights reserved Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Co,Ltd. B&H. 1758810 ego through, wag - tail showed B.& 17563,gave his plumes a twitch and toss, P un - blink - ing. =—— round the spot mon- grel_ slow - ly slink - ing; = B.& H. 1766812 The wag-tail gazed, but fal-tered 68s kPa LL = P eo : rall, per-fect gen-tle-man then neared; B.& H. 17563wag-tail, in a wink-ing, With ter-ror rose... oa i We f molto rall. vey and dis - ap - peared; oe: te ———_iIempol ba- by fell a - think- ing. express.—§ << b b Bay. Ga Fey Sm FT BM gy gH B.& H, 17568 Ba.14 4 The little old table Quick and light (J; 108) Pp. VOICE wood thing, lit-tle wood thing, —F orese. touch you with el-bow or knee; is the way you | ls All rights reserved Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. B.& H, 17568the way you speak sevens WHO Bave wn. lit-tle ta-ble, little ta-ble, z = eo orese. brought, brought, Brought me with her own hand, As she look’d.... B.& H. 1756316 me with a thought, look’ at me with a thought — searm dim. ————. »P sweetly Who-ev-er (with pedal) And hears it, b B.& H. 17563- will ne-ver know What a = — + es == 2 up-on This gs 2 ,/8 8 ¢ e $3 = var from long b. B.& H, 175685 The Choirmaster’s Burial (or The Tenor man’s story ) Simply (d ze.s2) De ee VOICE He —oft-en would ask us . when he died, PIANO: PP sustain —~r~ — am SSS SS SS Sos € ; Af-ter play-ing so ma-ny To their last rest, If out... of us a-ny b e : Ss a 1d — 3 — Should here a-bide, And it would not task us, We would with our lutes Play a! z 2 2d = —=. | >—— o-ver him By his grave-brim.... The psalm he liked best......... ~. aS g i All rights reserved Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. B.& H. 17563- haps we should seem To him, — in Death's dream, Like the a a ra-phim, the se - ra-phim. Quicker os As soon as I knewThat his spi-rit was gone I thought this his due, B.& H. 1756820 > Sf And spoke thereu-pon, “1 think)’said the vi-car,... (heavily) viols out-of - doors... these frosts and hoars, That old-fashioned way 2 - quires a fine B.& A. 1756321 =——_ pra pp It had bet-ter not be.”... Hence, that af-ter-noon, | Though ne - ver knew he That his wish could not be, To get through it fas-ter They buried the master With- out a- ny B.& H. 1756822 Tempo ;—>— —— — “twas said that, when.... Atthe dead of next night The vi-car looked out, __ = = p z There struck on his ken Thronged..... round-a - bout, frost was gray-ing The head-stoned grass, 2 aim Sing-ing and play-ing.... all in white Like the saints in church-glass, .... a Ste Le rn fey See od B.& H. 1756823 —= = ST ft sing-ing and _play-ing ... Ake Te Sisk Sete ree mas-ter's = OP R.& H1756824 6 Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches and Nightingales) f—_, _ ,. Impetuous (J - 178) VOICE SS The thrush-es sing as the FEAL And the fin - ches whist - le in Soe Let eo And as it gets dark loud Te Te hot Ket Lot All rights reserved Copvright 1954 by Boosey & Co., Ltd. B. & H. 17588Pipe, pipe, A - pril wears, These are brand new birds... of twelye-month’s grow-ing, B.& H. 17568fi Which a year a - go,.. or less than twain,....... —— > pt No finches were, nor night - in - gales, Nor thrushes, But on- ly par - ticles of and eS wea a B.& H. 175687 27 At the Railway Station, Upway (or The Convict and Boy with the Violin) Lightly and like an improvisation (d= c.72) VOICE PIANO. psimply ee SS = SS “There is not much that I caa do, For I've no mo-ney that's quite my own!” ull ofS aioe a Pp Ts Gustained) = SSS Spoke up the pi - ty - ing child — i bs: = SS 8 rl - — - ty — 3 —-— =e #. t r t ¢ with a vi- o- lin At_the [ a ae af t}— t 5 F sl Bade H. 1756828 be-fore the train came in, “But I can play my fid-dle to — you, And a nice one 'tis,.... ‘g ! cy) so (sustained ) man in the hand-cuffs smiled; he smiled, too,..... to twang; B.& H. 1756829 hy nf orese 3 rhythmic And the man in the hand-cuffs sud-den-ly sang With grim-ful be: glee “This life so. free Is the 50 (as before) me S con-sta-ble smiled, And the and said no word, As ~( 2 SO B.& H. 1756330 zt <——,: EP = con-scious of what he heard;. (sustained) 4 7 sweetly so they went on . till the train came in ———_—___ The —__ a 8 ry and B.& 175688 Before Life and After always P and smooth ietly moving (24) “o-™ 7 ete * fe ea SS PIANO 2| © P very smooth with Ped. 31 Qu . vorce [QE = = © ‘A time there was—— as one may guess And SSS =a in-deed, earth's tes - ti-mon-ies tell— Be - fore of went None suf-fered sick - ness, love,or loss, None knew re- “pee te Copyright 1954 by Boosey & Co.,Ltd. well. gret, starved hope, or eo All rights reserved B. & H. 1786832 Te Ee heart-burn- ings; None cared what-e-ver crash. eS —,- 4 or cross Ss Brought wrack to — bz Pp (sustained ) tongue be - wailed,...... If some-thing winced and waned, no heart was dark —_pre-vailed, b b B.& H. 1756833 pp crese. and moving forward of feel-ing germed,... be But the di - sease And pri-mal right-ness took the tinct of wrong; he - science shall be re long,how long, how..... long, £ Aldeburgh, September 1953 B.& H.17563