The River (William Webster Pearson)

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• (Posted 2023-11-27)  CPDL #77635:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-11-27).   Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 699 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The River
Composer: William Webster Pearson
Lyricist: Caroline Ann Bowles
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1880 Novello, Ewer, and Co.
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

River, river, little river!
Bright you sparkle on your way;
O’er the yellow pebbles dancing,
Through the flowers and foliage glancing,
Like a child at play.

River, river! swelling river!
On you rush through rough and smooth;
Louder, faster, brawling, leaping,
Over rocks, by rose-banks, sweeping
Like impetuous youth.

River, river! brimming river!
Broad and deep, and still as Time;
Seeming still, yet still in motion,
Tending onward to the ocean,
Just like mortal prime.

River, river! Rapid river,
Swifter now you slip away;
Gliding smoothly, as an arrow,
Through a channel dark and narrow,
Like life’s closing day.

River, river! headlong river!
Down you dash into the sea,—
Sea that line hath never sounded,
Sea that sail hath never rounded,
Like eternity.