Gervase Elwes (1866-1921), an English tenor of great distinction and a strong proponent of modern English song. Many composers wrote songs especially for him.
About Elwes, composer Vaughan Williams wrote:
\"The grosser aspects of passion and feeling were repugnant to him, and the transparent sincerity and honesty of his nature made it impossible to stimulate those emotions. The strength of his art lay in his power of making the candour and uprightness of his character an actual part of his singing.\"
And composer Roger Quilter:
\"He was the easiest person to accompany. He carried you away with him and, although he sometimes varied the way he sang a song, you felt so at one with him that you became almost unconscious of what you were doing. He inspired me so much that I could never have written in quite the same way if I had not known Gervase.\"
Gervase Elwes died tragically during a high profile tour of the United States when, stepping off a train in Boston, MA, and realizing he had mistakenly taken someone else's jacket, rushed back to return the item, only to slip and fall between the platform and the already moving train (the Opal CD incorrectly states that he died while heroically rescuing lives in a railway disaster).
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SO, WE'LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING
by George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
SO, we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be ne'er as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears the sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart itself must pause,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.
