Lydia Kakabadse: The House Where I Was Born – for mezzo soprano or alto and piano (NXP133)

This is a sheet music edition of The House Where I Was Born by the composer Lydia Kakabadse.

Sheet music for mezzo soprano or alto and piano

Music: Lydia Kakabadse
Words: from the poem Regret by Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855)

Score: 5 pages

Audio sample

Preface and programme notes

The words, taken from Charlotte Bronte’s poem Regret, are filled with nostalgia and regret. They tell of the author’s sad and wretched memories in the house where she grew up and her journey through life in search of happiness.

Her search ends when she finds great happiness – akin to paradise – with William. Performed patetico (with much feeling), the piano and voice reflect the author’s dark and haunting agonies.

The melancholic tone of the lyrics is reproduced by the use of minor keys, which shift between C minor and F minor. The piano accompaniment is very light throughout and could be substituted by a harp or guitar.

Lydia Kakabadse

Words

Long ago I wished to leave
“The house where I was born;”
Long ago I used to grieve,
My home seemed so forlorn.
In other years, its silent rooms
Were filled with haunting fears;
Now, their very memory comes
O’ercharged with tender tears.

Farewell, dark and rolling deep!
Farewell, foreign shore!
Open, in unclouded sweep,
Thou glorious realm before!
Yet, though I had safely pass’d
That weary, vexed main,
One loved voice, through surge and blast,
Could call me back again.

Though the soul’s bright morning rose
O’er Paradise for me,
William! Even from Heaven’s repose
I’d turn, invoked by thee!
Storm nor surge should e’er arrest
My soul, exulting then:
All my heaven was once thy breast,
Would it were mine again!