A Sea Symphony
This guide follows Williams’s A Sea Symphony “Symphony No. 1” (1909) in one part.
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Follow all 3 sections as they play
On the Beach at Night, Alone20:38–31:28
The A section is night music: over quiet orchestral harmony the baritone sings "On the beach at night alone", watching the stars and thinking of the universe and the future. In B the chorus joins with the poem's central idea, "a vast similitude interlocks all", and the music widens as the list grows: all distances of space and , all souls, all nations, all lives and deaths, building to a full choral . A′ to the opening mood, the baritone repeating the first line before a long orchestral .
- A
- B
Section boundaries in music are not always sharp; a transition may be felt over a pause or a held chord.
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