CBR Op.5 No.1

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Opus 5 No 1
Strew on her Roses

Written in 1898 by the 23-year old Cyril Bradley Rootham (CBR), this part-song was intended to be sung a cappella in small venues. The optional accompaniment was used for this performance in the larger space of St Margaret's Church, Westminster.

About this work

Opus 5 No 1 "Strew on her Roses" sets the text of the poem "Requiescat" by Matthew Arnold. The song is dedicated to the Bristol Madrigal Society, where CBR's father Daniel Wilberforce Rootham (1837-1922) was musical director for 50 years.

Publication status

Originally published by Boosey & Co in 1899, the sheet music for this part-song has been out of print for many years. But we have recently been able to typeset the music and hope to publish it in 2018.

original Boosey edition — Original 1899 edition by Boosey & Co

About this recording

This performance was recorded at a concert given by The Treasury Singers at St Margaret's Church on 18 November 2016. You can download the full programme with helpful notes.

As part of their concert The Treasury Singers also performed another CBR part-song: you can also listen to Rootham's Opus 5 No 2 "Love and Laughter".

Soprano: Sheila Barker, Caroline Borg, Isobel Clarke, Sara Dobson, Debbie Edwards, Stephanie Post, Penny Russell, Clare Salters, Eirian Walsh Atkins, Christine Wilson
Alto: Jane Knight, Jean Seglow, Judith Simpson, Cicely Taylor, Victoria Ware, Priscilla Wingate-Saul
Tenor: Ed Davison, Conal O'Hare, Michael Richardson, Jonathan Williams
Bass: Mike Lock, Neil Pirie, Peter Rowe, Steve Tatler, Neville Trout
Organist: Nathaniel Keiller A.R.C.O.
Conductor: William Ormerod

The Treasury Singers in St Margaret's Church, Westminster on 18 Nov 2016 — The Treasury Singers: St Margaret's Church on 18 Nov 2016
*Photo: Yuanfang Jiang*

Strew on her Roses

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!

Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.

Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.

Her cabin'd, ample spirit,
It flutter'd and fail'd for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.

The poet

Elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1857, Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning.

portrait photo of Matthew Arnold — Matthew Arnold

In a letter written to his mother in 1869, Arnold said:

"It might be fairly urged that I have less poetical sentiment than Tennyson and less intellectual vigour and abundance than Browning; yet because I have perhaps more of a fusion of the two than either of them, and have more regularly applied that fusion to the main line of modern development, I am likely enough to have my turn as they have had theirs."

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Opus 5 No 1 Strew on her Roses