"The Torch" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

 in 1909 as his Op.60, No.1.

The manuscript is dated 23 December 1909.

On the title-page, the song is dedicated "To YVONNE", and it is described as a "Folk-Song (Eastern Europe), paraphrased by Pietro d’Alba and Edward Elgar".

It was one of a set of a cycle of four songs that he planned, to his own words. It was shortly after writing the song A Child Asleep

A Child Asleep

"A Child Asleep" is a song, with lyrics from a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It was set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in December 1909 and published in 1910 by Novello...

for Muriel Foster

Muriel Foster

Muriel Foster was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. Grove's Dictionary describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time"....

, a few days before the Christmas of 1909 that Elgar received the news of the death of a friend, the soprano Olga Ouroussoff, the young wife of Henry Wood

Henry Wood (conductor)

Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences...

. The inspiration for the songs was the result of this news. Only the first song of the cycle, The Torch and the last, The River

The River (Elgar)

"The River" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1909 as his Op.60, No.2.On the title-page it is described as a "Folk-Song , paraphrased by Pietro d’Alba and Edward Elgar"....

were written.

The song was orchestrated in July 1912 and, with its companion song The River

The River (Elgar)

"The River" is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1909 as his Op.60, No.2.On the title-page it is described as a "Folk-Song , paraphrased by Pietro d’Alba and Edward Elgar"....

, it was first performed by Muriel Foster

Muriel Foster

Muriel Foster was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. Grove's Dictionary describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time"....

at the Hereford Music Festival on 11 November 1912.

Lyrics

THE TORCH

Come, O my love !

Come, fly to me ;

All my soul

Cries out for thee :

Haste to thy home,-

I long for thee,

Faint for thee,

Worship thee

Only, - but Come !

Dark is the wood,-

The track's ever lonely and gray ;

But joyous the blaze

That welcomes and shows thee the way.

Come, O my love !

Come, fly to me :

All my soul

Cries out for thee !

Haste to thy rest,-

I long for thee,

Sigh for thee,

Faint for thee;

Come to my breast.

Cold is the stream,-

The ford is a danger to thee :

My heart is aflame,

As the beacon that lights thee to me.

Come, O my love !

Come, fly to me !

All my soul

Cries out for thee :

Haste to thy home,-

I long for thee,

Faint for thee,

Worship thee

Only,- but Come !

Pietro d’Alba.

From a Folk-Song (Eastern Europe)

Recordings

• The Songs of Edward Elgar SOMM CD 220 Neil Mackie (tenor) with Malcolm Martineau (piano), at Southlands College, London, April 1999