O wild west wind, Op. 53, No. 3 (Edward Elgar)
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- Editor: Robin Doveton (submitted 2008-01-24). Score information: A4, 7 pages, 191 kB Copyright: CPDL
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: O wild west wind, Op. 53, No. 3
Composer: Edward Elgar
Lyricist: Percy Bysshe Shelley, from Ode to the West Wind
Number of voices: 8vv Voicing: SSAATTBB
Genre: Secular, Madrigal
Language: English
Instruments: A cappella
First published:
Description: Completed Rome, December, 1907
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
O wild West Wind, make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?