The stone-breaker’s daughter (George J. Webb)

Music files

L E G E N D

Disclaimer

How to download

ICON	SOURCE
	Pdf
	Mp3
	File details
	Help

• (Posted 2024-02-22)  CPDL #79238:     

Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-02-22).   Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 408 kB   Copyright: Personal

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: The stone-breaker’s daughter
Composer: George J. Webb
Lyricist:
Number of voices: 4vv   Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published: 1850 Mason & Law
Description: 

Original text and translations

English text

He seemed a stern and harsh old man;
    As if his soul had caught
The nature of the cold gray stones
    On which he daily wrought;
Yet on the waste of that rude heart,
    One flower in beauty love,
One fountain in the desert gushed,
    A wellspring of deep love.

And she, the sunlight of his life,
    Who called that fountain forth,
Walked angellike along his path,
    Too beautiful for earth:
The bloom upon her rounded cheek
    Was of the rose’s die;
But like our crimson autumn leaves,
    Foretold the spoiler nigh.

And when her fair, young form was laid
    Low in its narrow bed;
And wild flowers, like pale mourners, came,
    And gathered o’er her head,
Though still among the haunts of men,
    He trailed life’s heavy chain,
Like England’s mourning king of old,
    “He never smiled again.”