ROBERT PEARSALL

Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856) was born at Clifton Hill, Bristol, into a wealthy Quaker family. His father was an army officer and amateur musician. He was privately educated and practiced as a barrister in Bristol. In 1825, after suffering a stroke, he took his family to live abroad. He sold the family estate in Willsbridge and, in 1842, bought the Schloss Wartensee, a ruined medieval keep near Rorschach in Switzerland and spent several years restoring it. He remained there until his death. Pearsall was an amateur composer and many of his compositions were not published until after his death. He is best remembered for his part-songs and madrigals but also wrote orchestral works, anthems, services, musical treatises, and edited a Catholic hymnal. He kept in touch with his home city of Bristol and wrote many pieces for the Bristol Madrigal Society. He also composed poetry, some of which he used for his madrigals. The particle “de” often spelled in his name is a feature added after his death by his daughter Philippa.

All are mixed chorus; some contain divisi.

SET	TITLE	VOICING	TEXT	LISTEN
	A chieftain to the highlands bound			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	A king there was in thule			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Adieu! My native shore			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Caput apri defero			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Come let us be merry			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Down in my Garden Fair			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Great god of love	SSAATTBB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	How bright in the maytime			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	I saw lovely Phillis			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	In dulci jubilo			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	It was upon a spring-tide day	SATTB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Laugh not, Youth, at Age!			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Lay a garland	SSAATTBB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Let us all go maying		R. L. Pearsall	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Light of my soul	SSATBB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	List! Lady, be not coy	SSATTB	Milton	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Mihi est propositum			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	No! no! Nigella	SATB/SATB	Elizabethan	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Nymphs are sporting		Thomas Oliphant	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	O who will o’er the downs so free			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	O ye roses			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Purple glow the forest mountains			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Salve regina			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	See how smoothly		R. L. Pearsall	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Shoot, false love		Nursery Rhyme	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Sing we and chaunt it 8 voices	SATB/SATB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Sing we and chaunt it 4 voices	SATB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Sir Patrick Spens	SATTB/SATTB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Spring returns	SATB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Summer is y’ coming in			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Sweet as a flower in May			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Take heed, ye shepherd swains	SSATTB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Take o take	TrTrTTB		LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The Bishop of Mentz			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The hardy Norseman’s house of yore			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The praise of good wine			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The red wine flows			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The river spirit’s song			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The song of the Frank companies			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	The Winter song		R.L. Pearsall	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	There is a paradise on earth			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	War song of the Norman Baron Tailler			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Waters of Elle			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	When Allen-a-Dale went a-hunting			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	When last I strayed		R. L. Pearsall	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Who shall win my lady fair?			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Why do the Roses?			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Why should the Cuckoo’s tuneful note			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Why weeps, Alas! My Lady-love			LISTEN X Stop audio before closing
	Why with toil thy life consuming		Thomas Oliphant	LISTEN X Stop audio before closing