Stanford, Charles V: Eight Partsongs, Op. 119

Unaccompanied SATB chorus

A jewel of English music, The Blue Bird first appeared as the third of these eight partsongs to words by the Victorian poet and novelist Mary E. Coleridge. Published shortly after her death in 1908, Op. 119 is the first of two such cycles composed in response to the refined sensibility of her poetry, which proved an ideal match for Stanford’s mastery of word-setting and of the romantic choral idiom.