Kashmiri Song - Woodforde-Finder arr.Wilby & Childs |
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Amy Woodforde-Finden (1803-1919) was the wife of a lieutenant-colonel in the Bengal Cavalry who achieved fame as a composer of popular Edwardian drawing-room ballads. ‘Kashmiri Song' was the most celebrated of her Four Indian Love Lyrics, based on poems by Laurence Hope ( a pseudonym disguising the wife of yet another army officer!). In the 1920s the Radio Times said of the song-cycle ‘If sales are any criterion of popularity, the most popular songs ever published in the history of music are the Indian Love Lyrics'.
Though the phrasing of this piece is straightforward and the compass and dynamic range are not wide, the melody is an absolute winner! It is ideal as a ‘lip-saver' in the middle of a recital or as a slow encore. It would also be a good choice for slow melody competitions - guaranteed to ‘fetch a bird off a crumb'!