11 Songs by Kate Douglas Wiggin (American 1856-1923)
music by Kate Douglas Wiggin, lyrics by various authors, MIDI sequences by John McDonnell
from Two Songs (1884)
The winds are all hushed, and the moon is high,
Like a queen on her silver throne.
Tranquil and dark, the woodlands lie.
Scarcely a cloud sails over the sky.
None are awake, save the stars and I.
Sleepest thou still mine own?
Sleepest thou still my own?
The song of the nightingale stirs the air,
And the breath of the brier is blown,
And the breath of the brier is blown.
Come forth in thy sweetness beyond compare.
I'll clasp thee close, and I'll call thee fair,
And I'll kiss off the dew from thy golden hair.
Sleepest thou still mine own?
Sleepest thou still my own?
Then sleep and rest beloved, sleep,
Love closed thine eyelids, keep.
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Nine Love Songs and a Carol (1896)
In The Poetical Works of Edward Rowland Sill (1906), stanza 3 line 3 has "deem"
instead of "dream", and in Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last line is repeated.
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2. (North Malvern, 1892) kdw02.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last line is repeated.
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3. (San Francisco, 1888) kdw03.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, only the first stanza is used,
with portions of its last two lines variously repeated.
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4. (New York, 1896) kdw04.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last two lines of the third stanza are replaced with:
"By sea and sky, she shall be mine, the bonnie lass amang the heather."
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5. (New York, 1892) kdw05.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the phrase "I know not why" is sung prior to the first line.
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In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the first stanza is followed by, "Slumber, slumber my darling,
slumber my darling sweetly," and the second stanza is followed by "lullaby" repeated several times.
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7. (Bramall Hall, England, 1894) kdw07.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last line's "kissed" is changed to "did kiss", and
the last line is followed by "that air that did kiss thee, that air that did kiss thee!"
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8. (Santa Barbara, 1884) kdw08.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last lines of the first and second stanzas are repeated, and the third
stanza is changed to:
Gently the breezes kiss her hair;
She is so sweet, she is so fair.
The blossoms spring beneath her feet;
She is so fair, she is so sweet.
Let flowers and sun and breeze go by.
Oh! dearest love me or I die! or I die!
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9. (Trosley Towers, England, 1890) kdw09.mid
The poem is an abbreviated version of "A Pastoral" by John Byrom (1692-1763).
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, the last line of each stanza is repeated.
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10. (Lawrence Park, 1893) kdw10.mid
In Wiggin's setting of this poem, line 6 of each stanza is repeated. At the end of stanza 1 is added: "O rise up,
shepherd, and foller!". At the end of stanza 2 is added: "O rise up, sinner, and foller!" Following that, sung
softly is: "Foller, foller, foller, foller, Rise up, sinner, rise 'an foller, Foller de Star ob Bethlehem, O rise up,
sinner, and foller!" For other changes, see the sheet music.
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From The Lincoln State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1923, September 9:
Kate Douglas Wiggin, who died recently in England, was an excellent musician as well as author of
fiction. She published a volume of songs entitled "Nine Love Songs and a Carol" of which "The
Clover Blossoms Kiss Her Feet" ["She Is So Fair"] is the best known.
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From My Garden of Memory: An Autobiography by Kate Douglas Wiggin, 1923:
I went to Wellesley College as the guest of Katherine Lee Bates, head of the English department,
and had an unforgettable visit, reading to the College in the afternoon, and at five o'clock going to
my room to rest before dinner. It may have been an hour later when I heard a faint, far-away sound
of fresh young voices. It grew clearer and clearer until it seemed to stop under my window. Running
to see from whence it came, I opened my curtains, and there stood the Wellesley Glee Club giving
me their College "call," the most poetic and musical one I ever heard.
wellesley.mid
As it rose in exquisite harmony, three time in succession, from middle C major to the E above, it
hung on the highest note like the sound of an elfin flute and rings in my ears whenever I choose to
call it up. I spoke a few words of gratitude and closed the window lingerly until the girls sang their
way over the snow-covered lawns to their various dormitories.
On the next morning I met about fifty girls in the gymnasium and taught them from the manuscript
of my newly composed "Plantation Christmas Carol"; first the words (Mrs. Ruth McEnery Stuart's)
and then my own music. The first, third, fifth, and sixth lines of each verse are sung by a solo voice,
and all the others by a chorus. In this case, after they had gone through it three times, the effect
was so lovely, with the fresh young voices, the sympathy and the charm of learning it in this friendly
way, that groups of girls in the halls, or passing by the windows, dropped in to admire and applaud.
I afterwards dedicated it to the Wellesley Glee Club, and, after it was published in a little book of
my songs, it was much used at Wellesley.
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