Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

A.E. Housman: One that kept his word

A portrait in songs & letters

Part of the Ludlow English Song Weekend 2025 Festival

Add to my Calendar 13-04-2025 14:30 13-04-2025 16:30 36 A.E. Housman: One that kept his word The closing recital of this year's Ludlow English Song Weekend, a three day celebration of art song in English in the beautiful town of Ludlow in the Shropshire Hills. Book for one of our concerts, or immerse yourself in a weekend of music with discussions, films and masterclasses. For details of the full festival programme visit the Ludlow English Song Weekend website. A unique portrait of the complex, difficult man behind ‘A Shropshire Lad’. Three wonderful singers are joined by Olivier Award-winning stage and screen actor Alex Jennings (The Queen, The Lady in the Van) as A E Housman. Discover the life of the poet through letters and songs, in a moving performance devised by Ludlow Song’s Artistic Director Iain Burnside. 'A Shropshire Lad' inspired a torrent of musical settings, the archetypal English songs of several generations. Yet the poet himself was a difficult man: a tightly buttoned, unapproachable Classics professor who refused to suffer fools and disliked music. We unravel some of his many complexities, interweaving his letters through some of the magical songs his poems, contrary to his wishes, inspired. “Burnside’s vivid narrative is extraordinarily moving.” What’s On Stage review of ‘A Soldier and a Maker’, a portrait of Ivor Gurney Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Ludlow DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Ludlow Assembly Rooms
Mill Street
Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 1AZ
England


Programme

Arthur SomervellA Shropshire Lad: 'Loveliest of trees'
Ernest John MoeranFar in a western brookland
Martin BusseyBlue Remembered Hills: 'O when I was in love with you'
Ernest John MoeranSay, lad, have you things to do?
Benjamin BurrowsBredon Hill
Arnold BaxWhen I was one and twenty
Rebecca ClarkeEight o'clock
Benjamin BurrowsThe Soldiers
Arthur SomervellA Shropshire Lad: 'The street sounds to the soldiers tread'
Ernest John MoeranFarewell to barn and stack and tree
George ButterworthOn the idle hill of Summer
John IrelandThe Land of Lost Content: The Encounter
Lennox Berkeley5 Housman Songs: 'He would not stay for me'
Arthur SomervellA Shropshire Lad: White in the Moon the Long Road Lies
Alexander PappMy Dear Withers (world premiere)
Hannah LamIn Absence (world premiere)
John IrelandWe'll to the woods no more
Morfydd OwenWhen I came last to Ludlow
George ButterworthIs My Team Ploughing
George ButterworthWith rue my heart is laden
Arthur SomervellA Shropshire Lad: 'Into my heart an air that kills'

Performers

Alex Jennings – Actor
Bethany Horak-Hallett – mezzo-soprano
Liam Bonthrone – tenor
Jolyon Loy – baritone

Other concerts in this Series (+)

Programme Note

The closing recital of this year's Ludlow English Song Weekend, a three day celebration of art song in English in the beautiful town of Ludlow in the Shropshire Hills. Book for one of our concerts, or immerse yourself in a weekend of music with discussions, films and masterclasses. For details of the full festival programme visit the Ludlow English Song Weekend website.

A unique portrait of the complex, difficult man behind ‘A Shropshire Lad’. Three wonderful singers are joined by Olivier Award-winning stage and screen actor Alex Jennings (The QueenThe Lady in the Van) as A E Housman. Discover the life of the poet through letters and songs, in a moving performance devised by Ludlow Song’s Artistic Director Iain Burnside.

'A Shropshire Lad' inspired a torrent of musical settings, the archetypal English songs of several generations. Yet the poet himself was a difficult man: a tightly buttoned, unapproachable Classics professor who refused to suffer fools and disliked music. We unravel some of his many complexities, interweaving his letters through some of the magical songs his poems, contrary to his wishes, inspired.

“Burnside’s vivid narrative is extraordinarily moving.” What’s On Stage review of ‘A Soldier and a Maker’, a portrait of Ivor Gurney

Alex Jennings, A.E.Housman

Get a route map

Your Map

If you have any questions, please contact us using the form below, or send an e-mail to info@classicalevents.co.uk.

All form fields are required.

Please check your details and try again.

Thank you for contacting us. We will contact you regarding your enquiry as soon as possible.