In the Mind's Eye

 

 

 

Poet: Thomas Hardy

Date of poem:

Publication date:

Publisher:

Collection:

History of Poem:

Poem

In the Mind's Eye
 
1 That was once her casement,  
2 And the taper nigh,  
3 Shining from within there,  
4 Beckoned, 'Here am I!'  
 
5 Now, as then, I see her  
6 Moving at the pane;  
7 Ah; 'tis but her phantom  
8 Borne within my brain? -  
 
9 Foremost in my vision  
10 Everywhere goes she;  
11 Change dissolves the landscapes,  
12 She abides with me.  
     
13 Shape so sweet and shy, Dear,  
14 Who can say thee nay?  
15 Never once do I, Dear,  
16 Wish thy ghost away.  
     
(Hardy, 226)

Content/Meaning of the Poem:

Speaker:

Setting:

Purpose:

Idea or theme:

Style:

Form:

Synthesis:

Published comments about the poem:

Top of page

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 

Top of page

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

Musical Analysis

Composition date:

Publication date:

Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes - Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation

Tonality:

Transposition:

Duration:

Meter:

Tempo:

Form:

Rhythm:

Melody:

Texture:

Vocal Range:

Tessitura:

Dynamic Range:

Accompaniment:

Published comments about the music:

Pedagogical Considerations for Voice Students and Instructors:

Top of page

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 

Pitch Analysis
  pitch
stanza 1
stanza 2
stanza 3
stanza 4
total
highest
A
G
F
E
D
middle C
B
A
G
F
lowest
E

Top of page

Interval Analysis of Vocal Line
interval
direction
stanza 1
stanza 2
stanza 3
stanza 4
total
occurrences
minor 3rd
up
minor 3rd
down
major 3rd
up
major 3rd
down
perfect 4th
up
perfect 4th
down
perfect 5th
up
perfect 5th
down
minor 6th
up
minor 6th
down
major 6th
up
major 6th
down
minor 7th
up
minor 7th
down
octave
up
octave
down
total
up
total
down
grand
total

Top of page

Rhythm Duration Analysis of Vocal Line
  stanza 1 stanza 2 stanza 3 stanza 4 total
16th note
8th note
dotted 8th
quarter note
dotted quarter
triplet
half note
dotted half
 
stanza total

Top of page

 

✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦

 
Audio Recordings

To a Poet
CBC Records To a Poet album cover
  • Works: Finzi's To a Poet and Before and After Summer. Please click on album image to view complete listing.
  • Recorded: Sept. 1999; released July 2001
  • Record Label: CBC Records MVCD 1134
  • Playing time: 74 minutes

Top of page

The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
  • Works: Disc I: Finzi's Earth and Air and Rain, Till Earth Outwears, I Said To Love; Disc II: A Young Man's Exhortation, and Before and After Summer.
  • Recorded: December 1984; rereleased Aug. 2009
  • Hyperion CDA66161/2 MCPS.
  • Playing time: 116 minutes and 34 seconds

Top of page

Gerald Finzi
  • Works: Disc 1: Finzi's Before & After Summer, Till Earth Outwears, I Said to Love; Disc 2: Finzi's A Young Man's Exhortation, and Earth and Air and Rain.
  • Recorded: Disc 1: December 1967; Disc 2: April 1970; Rereleased in 2007
  • Lyrita SRCD.282.
  • Playing time: 1 hour and 59 minutes total; Disc I: 62 minutes and 41 seconds; Disc II: 56 minutes and 30 seconds.

Top of page

The English Song Series - 12
I said to Love album cover
  • Works: Finzi's I Said to Love, Let Us Garlands Bring, and Before and After Summer. Please click on album image to view complete listing.
  • Recorded: Aug. 2004; released: May 2005
  • Record Label: Naxos 8.557644
  • Playing time: 61 minutes 19 seconds

Top of page



Unpublished Analysis Excerpts


 

The following are comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song In The Mind's Eye. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:

 

A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"

 

This excerpt begins on page 84 and concludes on page 85.

 

 

The preceding were comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song In The Mind's Eye. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16th, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:

A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"

The excerpt began on page 84 and concluded pn page 85.

 

Top of page  



Unpublished Analysis Excerpts


 

The following is an analysis of **** by Gerhardus Daniël Van der Watt. Dr. Van der Watt extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on October 8th, 2010. His dissertation dated November 1996, is entitled:

 

The Songs of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) To Poems by Thomas Hardy

 

This excerpt comes from Volume II and begins on page *** and concludes on page ***. To view the methodology used within Dr. Van der Watt's dissertation please refer to: Methodology - Van der Watt.

1. Poet

Specific background concerning poem:

2. Poem

CONTENT/MEANING

STYLE

FORM

3. Synthesis

Setting

1. Timbre

VOICE TYPE/RANGE

ACCOMPANIMENT CHARACTERISTICS

2. Duration

METRE

RHYTHM

Rhythmic motifs

Rhythmic activity vs. Rhythmic stagnation

Rhythmically perceptive, erroneous and interesting settings

Lengthening of voiced consonants

SPEED

3. Pitch

MELODY

Intervals: Distance distribution

Interval
Upwards
Downwards
Unison
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh

 

Interval
Bar no.
Word/s
Reason/s

Melodic curve

Climaxes

System no.
Pitch
Word

Phrase lengths

TONALITY

System no.
From - To
Suggested reason/s

Chromaticism

HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT

Non-harmonic tones

Harmonic devices

Counterpoint

4. Dynamics

FREQUENCY

RANGE

VARIETY

DYNAMIC ACCENTS

5. Texture

No. of parts
No. of beats
Percentage
2 parts
3 parts
4 parts
5 parts
6 parts

6. Structure

7. Mood and atmosphere

General comment on style

Top of page


Unpublished Analysis Excerpts


The following is an analysis of In the Mind's Eye by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

This excerpt begins on page sixty and concludes on page sixty-one.

In the Mind's Eye
 
  That was once her casement,  
  And the taper nigh,  
  Shining from within there,  
  Beckoned, 'Here am I!'  
 
  Now, as then, I see her  
  Moving at the pane;  
  Ah; 'tis but her phantom  
  Borne within my brain? -  
 
  Foremost in my vision  
  Everywhere goes she;  
  Change dissolves the landscapes,  
  She abides with me.  
     
  Shape so sweet and shy, Dear,  
  Who can say thee nay?  
  Never once do I, Dear,  
  Wish thy ghost away.  
     
(Hardy, 226)

Hardy's phantom returns, this time in a far gentler guise, but no less haunting or desired. Finzi's setting is in G minor, though it begins in C minor and ends in D minor. There is a modified strophic form at work here, matching the even shape of Hardy's verse. The first three stanzas are introduced by a similar figure in the piano, a rising eighth note pattern in the bass followed by a half note trill (example 26).

Example 26 p. 61

The rising eighth figure appears in other places in the accompaniment as well, often reversing directions. For the last verse, the eighth motion slows to quarters and a more lyrically shaped vocal line appears for "shape so sweet and shy, Dear." Finally, the spell seems broken at the mention of "ghost" as the tonality unsettles, like the vision, to D minor.

The preceding was an analysis of In the Mind's Eye by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:

Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation

The excerpt began on page sixty and concluded on page sixty-one.

Top of page

Top of page

 

Thomas Hardy, The Complete Poems of
Thomas Hardy
, Edited by James Gibson
(New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1976), 226.
Thomas Hardy, The Complete Poems of
Thomas Hardy
, Edited by James Gibson
(New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1976), 226.