Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad

Composer: BUTTERWORTH, George

Quick Facts

  • A setting of six songs for voice and piano using poetry from A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad (1896):
    1. Loveliest of trees
    2. When I was one-and-twenty
    3. Look not in my eyes
    4. Think no more, lad
    5. The lads in their hundreds
    6. Is my team ploughing?
  • Read the text for all six songs here
  • Written between 1909-11
  • The first performance took place in Oxford in 1911 with baritone James Campbell McInnes and accompanied by the composer.1

About the Piece

  • Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad are perhaps Butterworth’s best-known work, representing his immeasurable talent for and artistic identity in English folksong.
  • Fun fact – while the songs all display Butterworth’s distinctive folk character in his musical writing, “When I was one-and-twenty” is the only song actually to contain a traditional folk tune.
    • Additional fun fact – Butterworth set additional five songs to Housman’s A Shropshire Lad beyond this initial set of six, which were published as Bredon Hill and Other Songs in 1912.2
  • In 1912, Butterworth followed up on his deep dive into Housman’s poetry by writing the orchestral rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad. The rhapsody borrows material from “Loveliest of trees.”3

Sources

  1. Clare Stevens, “A Shropshire Lad: A guide to Butterworth’s masterpiece and its best recordings,” BBC Music Magazine (2022), accessed March 28, 2023, https://www.classical-music.com/features/recordings/a-shropshire-lad-housman-butterworth/.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Stephen Banfield, “Butterworth, George,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 28, 2023, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000004467.

Cut IDs

49361