Wind of the Western Sea

Program Notes

Tennyson’s “Sweet and Low” is a mother’s lullaby—she sings to her child while watching the sea, waiting for her husband’s ship to return. The piano’s constant rocking triplets evoke the waves she watches, while the vocal lines remain simple and song-like, as a lullaby should be.

The poem’s two stanzas follow the same arc, and so the music is modified strophic—the second stanza mirrors the first, with an extended coda. At each climax (“Over the rolling waters go” and “Silver sails all out of the west”), chromatic harmonies briefly color the texture before settling back. In the coda, the Alto repeats “Sleep, my little one” as a gentle ostinato while the Soprano continues the narrative above—two layers of a mother’s voice, one comforting her child, the other longing for her husband’s return.

Related Music

Also based on a Tennyson poem: Break, Break, Break (F. 170) for SATB and Piano.

Performance Notes

Comfortable ranges, brief chromatic passages at two parallel climaxes, and a predominantly homophonic texture place Wind of the Western Sea at Level 2 (Easy). The extended closing diminuendo and gentle mixed meter (two measures of 5/4 and 3/4) offer opportunities for musical growth in developing ensembles.

The Text