This composer webpage is in the process of being created. In time we will have further details about the availability of scores and performing material for the majority of works listed here. In the meantime, should you have any particular enquiry about any of the music listed here, then please contact either the publishers whose names are given or Bardic Edition for all other general enquiries.
Mervyn Horder was born in London in 1910 and was son of the first Lord Horder, physician to five successive British monarchs (Edward VII to Elizabeth II). Educated at Winchester College, where (with Martin Cooper, Robert Irving and James Robertson) he had his musical training from George Dyson (later Sir George, Head of the Royal College of Music).
War Service with RAFVR at Fighter Command HQ, Air HQ India, SEAC, and after 1945 in Tokyo. Chairman and Managing Director of Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., general publishers, 1945-1970. He contributed many literary articles to The Bookseller, Folio Society Quarterly, London Magazine etc. and was the author of The Little Genius: a memoir of the first Lord Horder (1966); On Their Own - shipwrecks and survivals (1988) and Literary Zigzags.
He died after a short illness in 1997.
In the following list, works shown in Italics are not published and the location of the manuscript is unknown
Piano Music
Crimond (Seven Hymn Tunes No. 2)
Old 120th, The (Seven Hymn Tunes No. 4)
Pulchinello†
for piano duet
Seven Hymn Tunes
Instrumental Music
Minuet in D
(Handel) arranged
for Oboe (Flute or Violin) and piano
Suite for Strings
Choral Music
And is it true?
(John Betjeman) SATB with piano accompanimentMiscellaneous Works (scoring unknown)
All the Brown
and Bare Horizons§
Author of Life
Divine***
Be Known to Us***
Chorus Angelorum (Hymn Tunes)
Come My Way, My Truth, My Life [George Herbert]
Cool of Morning [Apex Music Co.]
Cradled***
Crossing the Bar [Alfred, Lord Tennyson]
Dancing***
First Christmas, The***
Five Time***
For John Piper [Stourton Press]
Glory of God Our King [Margaret Cropper]
God of Lions and Tigers***
God of the World’s Great
Cities [Christopher
Martin Idle]§
Golden Age Suite
Heel and Toe***
Hempstead [G. Studdert-Kennedy]§
Interlude from ‘Jeptha’*
I Didn’t Care
[Charles Causley]
I Kiss You [William Butler Yeats]
Jerusalem the Golden [J. M. Neale]
Jubilee
Martinmas§
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John***
Nocturne
Non Nobis Domine [Rudyard
Kipling]
Norfolk Waltzes (Dances?)
O give Me Springtime [Apex Music Co.]
O Salutaris Hostia***
Praise the Lord, the Ground
of Goodness§
Rain on Earth by Heaven’s Blessing§
Royal Lullaby
Sometimes a Light Surprises***
Strong Son of God
Tennyson Trio
Three Waltzes
Time Like a Saucey Trooper [Charles Causley]
Three Ferguson Duets (Cuddesdon;
Ladywell; Waldercote)***
Today we feel the earth spin round***
Variations on a Suffolk Folk-Tune‡
We Sing the Praise of Christ, the Great Physician§
Solo Songs (Voice and Piano)
And is it true? (John Betjeman)
Anything that hurts is funny
(Mervyn Horder)
As pants the heart (Ogden Nash)
Battersea (Eleanor Farjeon)
Bid me to live (Robert Herrick)
Blow, blow, thou winter wind (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
Bohemia (Dorothy Parker) [Black Diamonds I No. 2] -
see albums of songs below
Boy’s song, The (The Rev. H. C. Beesking)
Bric à brac (Dorothy Parker) [Black Diamonds II No.
2] - see albums of songs below
Bring me sunshine (Mervyn Horder)
Caprice (John Betjeman)
- see albums of songs below
Carry her over the water (W. H. Auden) - see albums
of songs below
Charm me asleep (Robert Herrick)
Child’s grace, A (Robert Herrick)
Church’s restoration, The
(John Betjeman) - see albums of songs below
Clear and gentle stream! (Robert Bridges)
Convalescent (Dorothy Parker) [Black Diamonds II
No. 3] - see albums of songs below
Darling dog (Anonymous)
Donkey, The (G. K. Chesterton)
Elizabethan sailor’s song (Charles Causley) [Five
Sea Songs No. 5] - see albums of songs below
Farmer’s eldest daughter, The (William Barnes)
[Dorset Delight No. 5] - see albums of songs below
Gather ye rosebuds (Robert Herrick)
Give and take (Carol Rumens)
Goldcups (A. E. Houseman) [A Shropshire Lad No. 2]
- see albums of songs below
Him I love (Mervyn Horder)
Holly, The (Walter de la Mare) [Four Songs No. 4] -
see albums of songs below
How to get on in society (John Betjeman)
- see albums of songs below
Hymn to love, A (Robert Herrick)
I am the great sun (Charles Causley) [Five Sea
Songs No. 1] - see albums of songs below
I love all beauteous things (Robert Bridges)
Innocent’s songs (Charles Causley) [Four Songs No.
2] - see albums of songs below
In the spring (William Barnes) [Dorset Delight No.
1] - see albums of songs below
In Westminster Abbey (John Betjeman)
- see albums of songs below
I saw a jolly hunter (Charles Causley) [Four Songs
No. 1] - see albums of songs below
It was a lover and his lass (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
John Anderson, My Jo (Robert Burns) [Five Burns
Songs No. 4] - see albums of songs below
Johnny (W. H. Auden) - see albums of songs below
Lent lily, The (A. E. Houseman) [A Shropshire Lad
No. 3] - see albums of songs below
Linnet, The (Walter de la Mare) [Four Songs No. 3]
- see albums of songs below
London fields (Eleanor Farjeon)
Loveliest of trees (A. E. Houseman) [A Shropshire
Lad No. 1] - see albums of songs below
Low fat (Mervyn Horder) [Fadditties No. 1]
- see albums of songs below
Lullaby (Lay your sleeping head, my love) (W. H.
Auden) - see albums of songs below
Monosodium glutamate (Mervyn Horder) [Fadditties
No. 3] - see albums of songs below
My delight and thy delight (Robert Bridges)
My Jean (Robert Burns) [Five Burns Songs No. 3] -
see albums of songs below
My own dear love (Dorothy Parker) [Black Diamonds I
No. 1] - see albums of songs below
Not to be born (W. H. Auden) - see albums of songs
below
Nursery rhyme of innocence and experience (Charles
Causley) [Five Sea Songs No. 4] - see albums of songs below
O mistress mine (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
O whistle and I’ll come to you (Robert Burns) [Five
Burns Songs No. 2] - see albums of songs below
On himself (Robert Herrick)
Orchard Street
(Eleanor Farjeon)
Parson’s Green (Eleanor Farjeon)
Physical culture (Mervyn Horder) [Fadditties No. 2]
- see albums of songs below
Red, red rose, A (Robert Burns) [Five Burns Songs
No. 1] - see album of songs below
Sailor's carol (Charles Causley) [Five Sea Songs
No. 3] - see albums of songs below
Sign no more, ladies (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
Silver (Walter de la Mare) [Four Songs No. 2] - see
albums of songs below
Song of the dying gunner (Charles Causley) [Five
Sea Songs No. 2] - see albums of songs below
Stock Exchange, The (Eleanor Farjeon)
Stop all the clocks (W. H. Auden) - see albums of
songs below - view score
Strand, The (Eleanor Farjeon)
Subaltern’s love song, A (John Betjeman)
- see albums of songs below
Summers pride (William Barnes) [Dorset Delight No.
4] - see albums of songs below
Tell me, Sarah Jane (Charles Causley) [Four Songs
No. 4] - see albums of songs below
Tiger, tiger, burning bright (William Blake)
Timothy Winters (Charles Causley) [Four Songs No.
3] - see albums of songs below
To Anthea (Robert Herrick) - see “Bid me to live”
above
To Electra (Robert Herrick)
To music (Robert Herrick) - see also “Charm me
asleep” above
Tower of London, The (Eleanor Farjeon)
Under the greenwood tree (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
Unfortunate coincidence (Dorothy Parker) [Black
Diamonds I No. 3] - see albums of songs below
Vulture, The (Hilaire Belloc)
Wail (Dorothy Parker) [Black Diamonds No. 1] - see
albums of songs below
Waterbeetle, The (Hilaire Belloc)
Westgate-on-sea (John Betjeman)
- see albums of songs below
When I was one and twenty (A. E. Houseman) [A
Shropshire Lad No. 4] - see albums of songs below
When music sounds (Walter de la Mare) [Four Songs
No. 1] - see albums of songs below
When that I was and a little tiny boy (William
Shakespeare)
White and blue (William Barnes) [Dorset Delight No.
2] - see albums of songs below
White in the moon (A. E. Houseman) [A Shropshire
Lad No. 5] - see albums of songs below
Where the bee sucks (William Shakespeare)
Who is Silvia? (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
Wife a-lost, The (William Barnes) [Dorset Delight
No. 3] - see albums of songs below
Wind and the rain, The (William Shakespeare)
- see albums of songs below
Winter it is past, The (Robert Burns - words and
music arr. Horder) [Five Burns Songs No. 5] - see albums of songs below
Vocal Duets (Voices and Piano)
Bonny lass, if thou
were mine (Mervyn Horder) Soprano and Tenor
Colour, The (Thomas Hardy) Soprano and Baritone
Come unto these yellow sands (William Shakespeare)
[Four Shakespeare Duets No. 2] Soprano and Baritone
It was a lover and his lass (William Shakespeare)
[Four Shakespeare Duets No. 1] Soprano and Baritone
Princess and the gypsies, The (Frances Cornford)
Soprano and Soprano or Mezzo Soprano and Mezzo Soprano
Sister, awake! (Anonymous 1604) Soprano and Mezzo
Soprano
When that I was and a little tiny boy (William
Shakespeare) [Four Shakespeare Duets No. 4] Soprano and Baritone
Where the bee sucks (William Shakespeare) [Four
Shakespeare Duets No. 3] Soprano and Baritone
Solo Song Albums
Black Diamonds I - 3 Songs (Dorothy Parker)
Black Diamonds II - 3 Songs (Dorothy Parker)
Book of Love Songs, A (1969)
- edition*
Dorset Delight - 5 Songs¶ (William Barnes)
Easter Carol Book, The (1982) -
edition**
Fadditties - 3 Songs
(Mervyn Horder)
Five Auden Songs
(W. H. Auden)
Five Burns Songs
(Robert
Burns)
Five Sea Songs¶ (Charles Causley)
Four Songs¶ (Charles Causley)
Four Songs
(Walter de la Mare)
Orange Carol Book,
The (1972) -
edition**
Seven Shakespeare Songs* (William Shakespeare)
A Shropshire Lad - 5 Songs* (A. E. Houseman)
Six Betjeman Songs*
(John Betjeman)
Publishers:
†Carl Fischer (USA)
‡Hinrichsen (Peters Edition)
*Alfred Lengnick & Co. Ltd (Complete Music)
***Oecumuse (Barry Brunton Music Publishing)
**Schott & Co. Ltd
§Stainer and Bell Ltd
¶Westerleigh Publications,
Thornhough, Lustleigh, Devon (Tel.: 01647 277270
††Williams
All other works listed are published by Bardic Edition
Recordings:
Mervyn Horder: 40 Songs (CD - Symposium No. 1039)
Available from Symposium Records
Bardic Edition would like to give special thanks to Professor Warren Hoffer, Emeritus for his help in locating and supplying manuscript copies of many of the Horder songs. Without his invaluable help the lists above could not have been completed. For all those interested in British songs, a worthwhile experience may be had from visiting Professor Hoffer’s website: Heigh! Nonny! Nonny! where you will find a wealth of information all about British songs, composers, publishers etc. etc.
How to obtain scores and parts
* = performance material available on hire (rental).
BD XXXX = a published score is available from all retail outlets.
In case of difficulty please contact Bardic Edition Customer Service.
BD XXXX in preparation = score in the process of being published.
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Perusal scores and programme notes:
If you wish to perform or peruse any of the works listed, information, programme notes, scores and in some cases recordings, can be obtained from the Repertoire Promotion Department, Bardic Edition.
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Permission to perform a work in public (except in the case of divine worship) should normally be obtained from the Performing Right Society Limited, 29-33 Berners Street, London W1P 4AA. In the case of stage works, application should be made to the publisher. Outside the UK please contact the relevant hire or sales agent for advice.
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