COMPASSION

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life
with reverence in order to give it true value.
— Albert Schweitzer

3/29/2017

"Blow The Wind Southerly" | Kathleen Ferrier


 

We are watching Kathleen Ferrier (1912–1953), contralto Places.


https://youtu.be/dXQuaq_2icU


'Blow
the Wind Southerly'
, arr. W. G. Whittaker English Traditional,
Northumbrian Folk Song. Kathleen Ferrier (22.III.1912 Higher Walton, Lancashire
- 8.X.1953 London, England) was an English contralto singer who
achieved an international reputation with a repertoire extending from
folksong and popular ballads to the classical works. Her death from
cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world and
particularly to the general public, which was kept in ignorance of the
nature of her illness until after her death. I remember my mother saying
when Kathleen Ferrier died that we had lost a voice that could never be
replaced. Sixty years later one has only to hear a few notes to know
that it is her, and what a wonderful sound it is! She was especially
known in Britain for her unaccompanied recording of the Northumbrian
folk tune Blow the Wind Southerly, which was played regularly on BBC
Radio for many years after herdeath.


Other Recordings: Ombra mai fù http://youtu.be/Z4wTylAZhxw


The
text to Blow the Wind Southerly was first published in England in an
1834 collection of songs, ballads, and various other writings called The
Bishoprick Garland and was edited by J. Ritson. Actually, only a small
part of that poem was used for this traditional song. The melody
probably predates the early nineteenth century origins of the text. The
authors of both the words and music are anonymous, but the song can be
traced to Northumbrian County in northern England. The leisurely paced
melody is lovely in its sentimental charm and carefree, folk-ish manner.
Oddly, its closing phrase bears a striking resemblance to the last
notes in the famous melody to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." The two
themes are otherwise of a different emotional cast, Blow the Wind
Southerly is hardly jovial in its sense of longing, but it is gentle and
light in its melancholy. The text speaks of a young woman beseeching
the wind to blow southerly to

























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