The Sweepers (Edward Elgar)

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• (Posted 2023-10-12)  CPDL #76288:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2023-10-12).   Score information: Letter, 12 pages, 507 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The Sweepers
Composer: Edward Elgar
Lyricist: Rudyard Kipling
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: Piano

First published: 1918 Enoch & Sons
Description: The Fringes of the Fleet, No. 4

In 1915, The Daily Telegraph commissioned Rudyard Kipling to write articles on aspects of the defense of the nation on the sea. They were subsequently published in a booklet titled “The Fringes of the Fleet”. Each section was prefaced by a short poem. In 1916 Lord Charles Beresford asked Elgar to set of some of the verses as songs. Elgar chose to set four of them as a song-cycle, originally for four men’s voices. They were quite popular and Elgar re-wrote them for mixed voices.

Original text and translations

English text

Dawn off the Foreland — the young flood making
Jumbled and short and steep —
Black in the hollows and bright where it's breaking—
Awkward water to sweep.
“Mines reported in the fairway,
“Warn all traffic and detain.
“Sent up Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain.”

Noon off the Foreland - the first ebb making
Lumpy and strong in the bight.
Boom after boom, and the golf-hut shaking
And the jackdaws wild with fright!
“Mines located in the fairway,
“Boats now working up the chain,
“Sweepers - Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain.”

Dusk off the Foreland - the last light going
And the traffic crowding through,
And five damned trawlers with their syreens blowing
Heading the whole review!
“Sweep completed in the fairway.
“No more mines remain.
“Sent back Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain.”