The Window (song cycle)


The Window; or, The Songs of the Wrens is a song cycle by Arthur Sullivan with words by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Written in 1867–70, it was eventually published in 1871. There are multiple versions of the title: On the cover of the 1871 edition, the subtitle is given as "The Loves of the Wrens", however, "Songs of the Wrens" is used on the frontispiece and is the one generally used.

Background

, the secretary of The Crystal Palace, originally suggested a collaboration between Tennyson and Sullivan on a German-style song cycle, in English, but similar to Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin. Grove was a friend of Sullivan's and an early promoter of his music. An English-language narrative song cycle, like Schubert's, was a novelty. John Everett Millais agreed to illustrate the poems for a handsome publication. On October 17, 1866, Grove and Sullivan dined with Tennyson at his home on the Isle of Wight, where they began to discuss the piece.
By February 1867, Tennyson had a draft of the text, but Sullivan noted in a letter he wrote home from Tennyson's house on February 10:
In August 1867, Tennyson had revised the words, and they were printed privately by Sir Ivor Guest. But Tennyson refused to allow publication until November 1870, when he finally agreed. By this time, however, Millais had sold the drawings he had prepared, except for one, and he was too busy to work any further on the project.
The songs were finally published early in 1871 and included the twelve poems by Tennyson, eleven of which Sullivan had set to music, just the one illustration by Millais, and the following preface by Tennyson:

Songs in the cycle

1 Sullivan did not set this song, but it is included in the score as poetry.

Recordings

The song cycle was recorded in 1989 by Peter Allanson and Stephen Betteridge on Symposium, 1074, as part of their recording, An Album of Victorian Song. The cycle is part of the 2017 Chandos Records collection, Songs, which includes 35 other Sullivan songs. The Window is sung by tenor Ben Johnson. David Owen Norris accompanies.