The pure, the bright, the beautiful (Stephen Collins Foster)

Music files

L E G E N D

Disclaimer

How to download

ICON	SOURCE
	Pdf
	Midi
	Mp3
	MusicXML
	MuseScore4
	File details
	Help

• (Posted 2024-03-05)  CPDL #79371:           

Editor: Barry Johnston (submitted 2024-03-05).   Score information: A4, 1 page, 58 kB   Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes: Transcribed from The Athenaeum Collection, 1863.

General Information

Title: The pure, the bright, the beautiful
Composer: Stephen Collins Foster
Lyricist: Sarah Doudney
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Art song   Meter: 86. 86. D (C.M.D.)

Language: English
Instruments: Piano

First published: 1863 in The Athenaeum Collection, p. 212
Description: Tenors or Sopranos sing the first eight lines, followed by a mixed chorus repeating the first and last lines. Words altered from Sarah Doudney, late 19th century; formerly attributed to Charles Dickens. Though this was published in a book for "Church and Sunday School", I don't find it appropriate for either (BCJ 2024).

Original text and translations

English text 1. The pure, the bright, the beautiful, That stirred our hearts in youth; The longings after something lost; The impulse to a wordless prayer. The dreams of love and truth; Revivings of our better hopes; The spirits yearning to cry; These things can never die. Chorus: The pure, the bright, the beautiful, These things can never die. The pure, the bright, the beautiful, These things can never die.

2. The timid hand stretch forth to aid A brother in his need, The kindly word in grief's dark hour That proves a friend indeed. The plea for mercy, softly breathed, When justice threatens high, The sorrow of a contrite heart These things can never die. 3. The cruel and bitter word, That bounded as it fell; The chilling want of sympathy, We feel, but never tell. The hard repulse that chills the heart Whose hopes were bounding high, In an unfading record kept These things can never die.