Froxfield Choir

Arthur Sullivan: The Long Day Closes (1868)

The Long Day Closes is probably the best known of Sullivan's partsongs. It dates to the period before the Savoy operas, when he was collaborating with Henry Chorley who wrote the words, but the style is already recognisable. The song is a touching meditation on death with plaintive soft harmonies throughout, appealing to the Victorian sentiment about death. It became traditional at the funerals of members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

No star is o'er the lake,
Its pale watch keeping,
The moon is half awake,
Through gray mists creeping,
The last red leaves fall round
The porch of roses,
The clock hath ceased to sound,
The long day closes.

Sit by the silent hearth
In calm endeavour,
To count the sounds of mirth,
Now dumb for ever.
Heed not how hope believes
And fate disposes:
Shadow is round the eaves,
The long day closes.

The lighted windows dim
Are fading slowly.
The fire that was so trim
Now quivers lowly.
Go to the dreamless bed
Where grief reposes;
Thy book of toil is read,
The long day closes.