This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Adieu, sweet flowers!
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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Adieu, sweet flowers! by William McKendrick — Lyrics
Adieu, fair flowers! since ye must go,
Those fateful words must fain be said,
And hearts that love ye saddened grow
When they behold ye sere and dead!
So sweet have ye through summer been
That ye have deep affection won,
Yet ye must go and quit the scene
Your beauty set its seal upon!
Adieu, fair flowers!
Companions of the golden hours!
It wings the heart
With thee to part,
But ye must go—
Adieu, fair flowers!
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About Adieu, sweet flowers!
Adieu, sweet flowers! captures the poignant sorrow of parting with beloved companions, likening them to flowers that must fade. The text, however, offers solace, suggesting that these 'flowers' are merely sleeping and will return, just as cherished memories and dreams sustain us through absence. McKendrick’s SATB setting is a secular English partsong that reflects the Renaissance madrigal tradition, its music coloured by the melancholic yet hopeful sentiment of the lyrics. The voices blend to express deep affection and the bittersweet acceptance of inevitable separation, a tender reflection on beauty's transient nature and the enduring power of memory.
