A. E. Housman

British writer A. E. Housman is an important figure in the history of American song. His texts have been set to music by dozens of American composers, most notably Ernst Bacon, Samuel Barber, Marc Blitzstein, John Duke, Jake Heggie, and George Walker.

Photo: A. E. Housman, 1910, public domain

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    About

    Born in Fockbury, Worcestershire (England), A. E. Housman was a distinguished professor of the classics, first at University College (London) and then at Trinity College (Cambridge).

    He was also the author of two popular books of poetry: A Shropshire Lad (1896) and Last Poems (1922). A Shropshire Lad was not popular at first, but at the dawning of World War I, the volume gained in popularity due to its “nostalgic depiction of brave English soldiers.” Housman’s popularity can also be traced to the various composers who set his poetry to music.

    –Christie Finn Source: The Academy of American Poets

    Related Information

    Songs

    Aftermath

    Song Collection

    Ned Rorem

    John Scott of Amwell

    William Blake

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Richard Eberhart

    A. E. Housman

    Randall Jarrell

    John Hollander

    William Shakespeare

    Walter Savage Landor

    Muriel Rukeyser

    Far in a Western Brookland

    Libby Larsen

    A. E. Housman

    Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    Song Collection

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    From Far, From Eve and Morning

    Marc Blitzstein

    A. E. Housman

    Into My Heart, Op. 54, no. 1

    Margaret Ruthven Lang

    A. E. Housman

    Into My Heart an Air

    Marc Blitzstein

    A. E. Housman

    Into My Heart an Air That Kills

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    Is My Team Ploughing?

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    Quiet Airs

    Song Collection

    Ernst Bacon

    Sara Teasdale

    Emily Brontë

    Walt Whitman

    Robert Herrick

    Emily Dickinson

    A. E. Housman

    William Blake

    Reveille

    John Woods Duke

    A. E. Housman

    Stars

    Ernst Bacon

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Quiet Airs

    Three Songs, Op. 2

    Song Collection

    Samuel Barber

    James Stephens

    A. E. Housman

    Tygers of Wrath

    Ned Rorem

    William Blake

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Aftermath

    When I Was One-and-Twenty

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    With Rue My Heart is Laden

    Bob Scher

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Five Songs from "A Shropshire Lad"

    With Rue My Heart is Laden

    George Walker

    A. E. Housman

    With Rue My Heart is Laden (op. 2, no. 2)

    Samuel Barber

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: Three Songs, Op. 2

    White in the Moon

    Jake Heggie

    A. E. Housman

    With Rue My Heart Is Laden

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    If It Chance Your Eye Offend You

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    If Truth In Hearts That Perish

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Oh Fair Enough Are Sky And Plain

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Say Lad, Have You Things To Do?

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Be Still, My Soul (#7)

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Be Still, My Soul (#8)

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Oh, When I Was In Love With You

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Look Not In My Eyes

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    From Far, From Eve And Morning

    Beverly Benjamin Cole

    A. E. Housman

    Song Collection: A Shropshire Lad

    Books

    Sheet Music

    Aftermath

    Composer(s): Ned Rorem

    Song(s): 1. The Drum
    2. Tygers of Wrath
    3. The Fury of the Aerial Bombardment
    4. The Park
    5. Sonnet LXIV
    6. On his Seventy-Fifth Birthday
    7. Grief
    8. Remorse for Any Death
    9. Losses
    10. Then

    Buy via Boosey & Hawkes

    Quiet Airs

    Composer(s): Ernst Bacon

    Song(s): 1. Twilight
    2. Gentle Greeting
    3. The Divine Ship
    4. Of Love
    5. Eden
    6. The Little Stone
    7. Fond Affection
    8. Stars
    9. The Heart
    10. Song of Snow-White Heads
    11. The Lamb
    12. To Musique, To Becalme His Fever

    Buy via Classical Vocal Reprints

    The Marc Blitzstein Songbook, Vol. 3

    Buy via Boosey & Hawkes

    John Duke Song Collections

    Composer(s): John Duke

    Find at your local library

    The Faces of Love (Book 2)

    Composer(s): Jake Heggie

    Buy via E. C. Schirmer

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