Bert Bailey wrote:

>Walter Meyer reminisced about hearing on the radio...
>
>>...a remarkable work for low female voice and orchestra, some of which
>>sounded Wagnerian to me, except that it wasn't Wagner, and besides, it was
>>sung in English.  I discovered that it was Elgar's *Sea Pictures*, sung by
>>Dame Janet Baker w/ the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John
>>Barbirolli.
>
>SVP: What Wagner works, or parts thereof, resemble this?

Sorry to have delayed my reply, but I wanted a chance to listen to the work
again first.

When I said the music, which I first stumbled upon in the middle, sounded
Wagnerian, I didn't mean it sounded like the Magic Fire Music, or the
Liebestod, or some other quickly identifiable passage from Wagner.  But
the orchestral transition passages in "Sabbath Morning at Sea" recall for
me the prelude to *Die Meistersinger* and its last verse sounded to me as
something Wagner could have written.  Much of the songs reminds me of the
Wesendonck Lieder, or maybe Senta's Ballad.

These are all subjective impressions of course.  More important is that
I've found all of these Sea Songs sublimely beautiful, something that at
this stage of my listening to classical music does not often happen when
I hear a work for the first time, and listening to them again, this time
while following the texts (for which I thank all the people who graciously
e-mailed me copies) was a pleasure redoubled.

Walter Meyer