SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY
For SATB with piano and opt. perc.
Sheet Music
Available for SATB with piano and optional perc. available with MusicSpoke.
She Walks In Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
- Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Composer Notes:
Lord Byron conveys a depth of emotion through his use of imagery in his poem, “She Walks In Beauty.” An important part of that imagery is his use of antithesis to describe the all-encompassing depth of the subjects inner and outer beauty. Phrases such as “dark and bright” or “one shade the more one ray the less” are two examples of this antithesis. To me, the use of such contrasting extremes captures a perfect balance, mysteriousness, and an unworldly beauty found within the subject.
The imagery of this poem is, in my opinion, one of the reasons this poem is such a challenge to set musically. Before I began to compose, I knew that the musical language had to fit that idea of antitheses and perfection. It needed to be complex, simple, delicate, powerful, heavy, light, dark, and bright.
I could enumerate the various ways in which I attempted to capture the various feelings I sought to capture, but I will distill that list to a couple of items. First, I felt the melody had to be pure and buoyant to capture the grace and virtue of the subject. For that reason, I felt it was important to base the pitch collection of my melody around the fifth of a chord. Tonic always feels grounded to me, and the fifth would allow the music to feel a little mysterious and ethereal. Instrumentally, I wanted to include metallic percussion to capture the shimmering quality of light and the majesty found within the second stanza. Coincidentally, I also appreciate that in French, “Belle” translates for beauty.
For years I attempted to set music to this poem, but always failed. In my opinion, this poem is about sincere admiration rather than lust. Love is such a deep, complex, and profound word. I always thought I knew what it meant, but it wasn’t until I met my wife that I truly began to understand what “love” meant. The depth of appreciation one has for every facet of someone’s personality is indescribable. The light, the dark, the all-encompassing gratitude one can have for another human being is unimaginable. If it wasn’t for my wife, I don’t know if I could have begun to scratch the surface of this beautiful poem.
-Zachary J. Moore
