Boosey & Hawkes — Song of the Fisherman

Three of the four stanzas from Act I scene 1 and the fourth from Act III

This arrangement published 1947/48, arranger unknown

Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes

Difficulty level: 1

This is an inspired choice for an extract from one of Britten's greatest masterpieces. The piano part sets the peaceful scene at the end of another hard-labouring, rough-hewn day of fishing involving the whole community - men and women. The beautifully simple choral phrases exude both peace and exhaustion. The different verses tell their story passionately building to a powerful climax under which the rising and falling figuration in the piano part mimics the rolling waves of the sea. It ends as it began, quietly using that familiar Britten fingerprint of the rising and falling arpeggio of superimposed thirds.

Duration: 4 minutes

Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011

Product details

• Voicing: SATB
• Format: SATB and Piano Reduction
• Series: BH Secular Choral
• Pages: 12
• Dimensions: 10.2 × 7.2 × 0.1 in
• Weight: 1 oz

Boosey & Hawkes — historic British publisher of Stravinsky, Britten, Copland, Bernstein.

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