Edward Thomas was born in London in 1878 and died at the Battle of Arras in World War 1 on the 9th April 1917 at the age of 39. His poem "Adlestrop" captures a moment of tranquillity in the English countryside which he experienced when his train journey was interrupted ‘unwontedly’ at the Cotswold village named in the poem’s title. The journey took place on June 24th 1914, about a month before the war started. The poem was not written, though, until 1915 (and not published until 1917) and the fact that it was written after the outbreak of war accounts perhaps for its character of melancholy and nostalgia - it seems not just to be describing a peaceful moment in time but to be lamenting the loss of an England which could never be the same again.

This is the world première performance on 1st November 2014 in All Saints’ Church, Bedworth, and sung by the Atherstone Choral Society conducted by Kevin Gill. The composer is playing the piano.

Edward Thomas [1878-1917]
ADLESTROP

Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

[ Ссылка ]

свернуть