Henry Constable
Henry Constable wrote Elizabethan love sonnets and spiritual lyrics whose fervour and richness of colour have drawn composers to set them. Diana remains one of the earliest English sonnet sequences.
Alongside the amatory sonnets of Diana he wrote Spirituall Sonnettes to the honour of God and his saints, including To Saint Mary Magdalen. He favours a mixed Italian and English rhyme scheme, Italian in the octave and English in the sestet, close to Sidney's practice. Pastoral lyrics such as The Sheepheard's Song of Venus and Adonis keep a clear line and a warm address that sit naturally in song.
Compositions by Henry Constable appear on
Australian Songs
A comprehensive survey of Richard Peter Maddox’s vocal music, with the composer at the Stuart & Sons piano, joined by soprano Samantha Smith and, in the closing cycle, his brother Graham Maddox on oboe.
ABC of American Art Song
Melanie Duncan blitzed the 1999 Mietta Song Recital Award, taking the Popular Choice award and the Musical Partnership with accompanist Claire Cooper as well as the Award itself. This is her recital of twentieth-century American art song.