The River (Elgar)

Lyrics#

THE RIVER* :River, mother of fighting men, (Rustula !) ::Sternest barrier of our land, (Rustula !) :From thy bosom we drew life : ::Ancient, honoured, mighty, grand ! ::::::::Rustula ! :Oh ! what worship had been thine, (Rustula !) ::Hadst thou held the foe-men, drowned; (Rustula !) :Flood, more precious far than wine, ::Victress, saviour, world-renowned ! ::::::::Rustula ! :Rustula ! :Like a girl before her lover, (Rustula !) ::How thou falterdst, - like a slave; - (Rustula !) :Sank and fainted, low and lower, ::When thy mission was to save. :::Coward, traitress, shameless ! ::::::::Rustula ! :On thy narrowed, niggard strand, (Rustula !) ::Despairing - now the tyrant’s hand (Rustula!) :Grips the last remnant of our land, ::Wounded and alone I stand, :::Tricked, derided, impotent ! ::::::::Rustula ! ::::::::::Pietro d’Alba. ::::::::From a Folk-Song (Eastern Europe) ::::::::::::::(Leyrisch-Turasp, 1909) NOTE-… “The river was in full flood and, had it remained so another twenty-four hours, would undoubtedly have overwhelmed the enemy : but it sank far below its normal level more rapidly than it had risen three days before.” RECORDINGS Tudor Davies (Tenor) and Madam Adami (Piano) His Master’s Voice - Recorded 14/12/1925 and released 7/1926 - (Recorded Hayes, Middlesex). *Elgar: The Collector’s Edition, CD 29 Robert Tear (tenor), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Vernon Handley (conductor) *The Songs of Edward Elgar SOMM CD 220 Neil Mackie (tenor) with Malcolm Martineau (piano), at Southlands College, London, April 1999

References#

• Banfield, Stephen, Sensibility and English Song: Critical studies of the early 20th century (Cambridge University Press, 1985)
• Kennedy, Michael, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968)
• Moore, Jerrold N. “Edward Elgar: a creative life” (Oxford University Press, 1984)