I Said to Love
song analysis

 

 

 

Poet: Thomas Hardy

Date of poem:

Publication date:

Publisher:

Collection:

History of Poem:

Poem

I Said to Love
 
1 I Said to Love,  
2 'It is not now as in old days  
3 When men adored thee and thy ways  
4 All else above;  
5 Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One  
6 Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,'  
7 I said to Love.  
 
8 I said to him,  
9 'We now know more of thee than then;  
10 We were but weak in judgment when,  
11 With hearts abrim,  
12 We clamoured thee that thou would'st please  
13 Inflict on us thine agonies,'  
14 I said to him.  
 
15 I said to Love,  
16 'Thou art not young, thou art not fair,  
17 No elfin darts, no cherub air,  
18 Nor swan, nor dove  
19 Are thine; but features pitiless,  
20 And iron daggers of distress,'  
21 I said to Love.  
 
22 'Depart then, Love! . . .  
23 - Man's race shall perish, threatenest thou,  
24 Without thy kindling coupling-vows?  
25 The age to come the man of now  
26 Know nothing of? -  
27 We fear not such a threat from thee;  
28 We are too old in apathy!  
29 Mankind shall cease. - So let it be,'  
30 I said to Love.  
 
(Hardy, 114)

Content/Meaning of the Poem:

Speaker:

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Idea or theme:

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Published comments about the poem:

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Musical Analysis

Composition date:

Publication date:

Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes - Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation

Tonality:

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Rhythm:

Melody:

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Dynamic Range:

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Pedagogical Considerations for Voice Students and Instructors:

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✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 

Pitch Analysis
  pitch
stanza 1
stanza 2
stanza 3
stanza 4
total
highest
A
G
F
E
D
middle C
B
A
G
F
lowest
E

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Interval Analysis of Vocal Line
interval
direction
stanza 1
stanza 2
stanza 3
stanza 4
total
occurrences
minor 3rd
up
minor 3rd
down
major 3rd
up
major 3rd
down
perfect 4th
up
perfect 4th
down
perfect 5th
up
perfect 5th
down
minor 6th
up
minor 6th
down
major 6th
up
major 6th
down
minor 7th
up
minor 7th
down
octave
up
octave
down
total
up
total
down
grand
total

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Rhythm Duration Analysis of Vocal Line
  stanza 1 stanza 2 stanza 3 stanza 4 total
16th note
8th note
dotted 8th
quarter note
dotted quarter
triplet
half note
dotted half
 
stanza total

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✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 
Audio Recordings

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The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
  • Works: Disc I: Finzi's Earth and Air and Rain, Till Earth Outwears, I Said To Love; Disc II: A Young Man's Exhortation, and Before and After Summer.
  • Recorded: December 1984; rereleased Aug. 2009
  • Hyperion CDA66161/2 MCPS.
  • Playing time: 116 minutes and 34 seconds

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Gerald Finzi
  • Works: Disc 1: Finzi's Before & After Summer, Till Earth Outwears, I Said to Love; Disc 2: Finzi's A Young Man's Exhortation, and Earth and Air and Rain.
  • Recorded: Disc 1: December 1967; Disc 2: April 1970; Rereleased in 2007
  • Lyrita SRCD.282.
  • Playing time: 1 hour and 59 minutes total; Disc I: 62 minutes and 41 seconds; Disc II: 56 minutes and 30 seconds.

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The English Song Series - 12
I said to Love album cover
  • Works: Finzi's I Said to Love, Let Us Garlands Bring, and Before and After Summer. Please click on album image to view complete listing.
  • Recorded: Aug. 2004; released: May 2005
  • Record Label: Naxos 8.557644
  • Playing time: 61 minutes 19 seconds

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Unpublished Analysis Excerpts


 

The following is an analysis of **** by Gerhardus Daniël Van der Watt. Dr. Van der Watt extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on October 8th, 2010. His dissertation dated November 1996, is entitled:

 

The Songs of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) To Poems by Thomas Hardy

 

This excerpt comes from Volume II and begins on page *** and concludes on page ***. To view the methodology used within Dr. Van der Watt's dissertation please refer to: Methodology - Van der Watt.

1. Poet

Specific background concerning poem:

2. Poem

CONTENT/MEANING

STYLE

FORM

3. Synthesis

Setting

1. Timbre

VOICE TYPE/RANGE

ACCOMPANIMENT CHARACTERISTICS

2. Duration

METRE

RHYTHM

Rhythmic motifs

Rhythmic activity vs. Rhythmic stagnation

Rhythmically perceptive, erroneous and interesting settings

Lengthening of voiced consonants

SPEED

3. Pitch

MELODY

Intervals: Distance distribution

Interval
Upwards
Downwards
Unison
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh

 

Interval
Bar no.
Word/s
Reason/s

Melodic curve

Climaxes

System no.
Pitch
Word

Phrase lengths

TONALITY

System no.
From - To
Suggested reason/s

Chromaticism

HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT

Non-harmonic tones

Harmonic devices

Counterpoint

4. Dynamics

FREQUENCY

RANGE

VARIETY

DYNAMIC ACCENTS

5. Texture

No. of parts
No. of beats
Percentage
2 parts
3 parts
4 parts
5 parts
6 parts

6. Structure

7. Mood and atmosphere

General comment on style

 

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The following is an analysis of I Said to Love by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

This excerpt begins on page seventy-six and concludes on page seventy-eight.

I Said to Love
 
1 I Said to Love,  
2 'It is not now as in old days  
3 When men adored thee and thy ways  
4 All else above;  
5 Named thee the Boy, the Bright, the One  
6 Who spread a heaven beneath the sun,'  
7 I said to Love.  
 
8 I said to him,  
9 'We now know more of thee than then;  
10 We were but weak in judgment when,  
11 With hearts abrim,  
12 We clamoured thee that thou would'st please  
13 Inflict on us thine agonies,'  
14 I said to him.  
 
15 I said to Love,  
16 'Thou art not young, thou art not fair,  
17 No elfin darts, no cherub air,  
18 Nor swan, nor dove  
19 Are thine; but features pitiless,  
20 And iron daggers of distress,'  
21 I said to Love.  
 
22 'Depart then, Love! . . .  
23 - Man's race shall perish, threatenest thou,  
24 Without thy kindling coupling-vows?  
25 The age to come the man of now  
26 Know nothing of? -  
27 We fear not such a threat from thee;  
28 We are too old in apathy!  
29 Mankind shall cease. - So let it be,'  
30 I said to Love.  
 
(Hardy, 114)

The poet has now had enough and wishes to violently sweep away Love, the source of so much inspiration and frustration. This is the last Hardy setting that Finzi was to compose, its completion noted as 12 July 1956, ten weeks before his death. Joy Finzi's journal entry of 14 July 1956 noted its completion: "G's 55th birthday, G went through the new five Hardy songs etc. . which he was written at various times during the last few months, 'I said to Love' he has just finished. More violent than some of the recent ones." (Banfiled, 299) The intensity of the setting is present at the very beginning, Finzi starting with open octave C's in the piano, which set an ominous tone. The song falls into a large three-part form; recitative, aria with cadenza, and recitative. The ferocity of the setting comes to a climax in the cadenza (example 42), written in open octaves in the piano.

Example 42 p. 78

The cadenza and the section that follows are among Finzi's most violent musical expressions. It is not difficult to imagine that he was railing against his own mortality, though even he did not know how soon it would come.

The preceding was an analysis of I Said to Love by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

The excerpt began on page seventy-six and concluded on page seventy-eight.

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Stephen Banfield, Sensibility and English Song: 
Critical Studies of the Early 20th Century

(Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1985), 299.
Thomas Hardy, The Complete Poems of
Thomas Hardy
, Edited by James Gibson
(New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1976), 114.
Thomas Hardy, The Complete Poems of
Thomas Hardy
, Edited by James Gibson
(New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1976), 114.