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Timothy Hoekman
Timothy Hoekman Music
When I Was One-and-Twenty
A lively song about the folly of youth.
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Loveliest of Trees
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The Lent Lily
SA chorus, piano
“When I Was One-and-Twenty” is from A. E. Housman’s well-known collection of poems entitled A Shropshire Lad. Composer Timothy Hoekman has set three of these poems for SA chorus and piano, the other two poems being “Loveliest of Trees” and “The Lent Lily.” These musical settings attempt to capture the sometimes folk-like, sometimes deep and sophisticated qualities of Housman’s poetry. These three songs work together well as a set, but each can also be sung individually.
Text
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.’
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
‘The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
‘Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.’
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.
-A. E. Housman
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