The Blue Bird

The Blue Bird is a partsong (Op. 119 No. 3) composed by Charles Villiers Stanford in 1910. It is set to the words of L'Oiseau Bleu, a poem by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, which depicts a bluebird in flight over a lake. It is written for soprano, divided altos, tenor and bass. "The Blue Bird" is the third of Stanford's Eight Part Songs which are all settings of texts by Coleridge. It was widely performed by choral societies in England during Stanford's life and is considered one of the best English partsongs ever written. It has been recorded by ensembles including The Cambridge Singers, Oxford Camerata, Tenebrae, and the Gabrieli Consort. Context Before composing "The Blue Bird", Charles Villiers Stanford had already established himself as an accomplished writer of partsongs. He began by writing three collections of them in an Elizabethan style, the first of which (Op. 47, 1892) was praised by the Musical Times as being among the best of their kind. He then turned to setting arrangements of Irish folk songs, followed by Op. 119 and Op. 127, published by Stainer & Bell, which are settings of poetry by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, whose father Arthur Duke Coleridge was a friend of Stanford's. "The Blue Bird" comes from the Op. 119 collection of partsongs and is one of Stanford's most famous examples of the form. The form first became influential in England when partsongs by Felix Mendelssohn were translated into English, and the genre grew in part due to the popularity of early 19th century choral societies. Song Music and verse form Partsongs are often strophic and written for multiple voices in a homophonic texture, with occasional rhythmic variation between the upper and lower voices. They are intended to be sung in intimate settings. "The Blue Bird" is in the key of G-flat major and is scored for an SAATB ensemble. A typical performance lasts around four minutes, varying for each conductor.