for tenor and piano. dur: 4'
Text:
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on--on--and out of sight.
Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
Program Notes: "Everyone Sang" was written over the course of a few days as an assignment at the Brevard Music Center in the summer of 2016. Siegfried Sassoon is well known for his poetry about the horrors of World War I, in which he was a British soldier. With that in mind, this song was written to convey a joy tinged with melancholy.