This is a masterpiece by the great 20th C composer Berio, who broke musical language radically in a modernist way and influenced many composers. 
His incredible musical imagination – rich harmonies and subtle rhythms, is reflected in this song.
The text is in Medieval Italian and the song is dedicated to the singer Cathy Barbarian, who later was to become his wife.
It is an extremely passionate love song with incredible drama – long rezitatives which echo a deep understanding of the Baroque composer Monteverdi interspersed with sections which are like folk song - like Bulgarian women dancing and Russian folk song. It is both so very ‘early Baroque’- and yet also so ‘contemporary’ at the same time.

Centuries of Songs

Avendo gran disio

Berio: Avendo Gran Disio | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo) | Pete Rosser (Piano)

‘Nisi Dominus’  
This is the opening piece from Vivaldi’s Cantata of the same name (RV 608). The text – Psalm 126 – was composed for the Venetian girls’ orphanage, ‘The Pieta’, where he taught the violin. Vivaldi’s work there caused him to produce concertos in abundance. These previously unknown concertos were a major spur to the so-called post war ‘Baroque boom’ that awakened active performing and recording. 
The message of the Latin is: ‘Unless God is in the building of your house or the guarding of a city – you will have laboured in vain’.

Nisi Dominus

Vivaldi: Nisi Dominus | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo)| Pete Rosser (Piano)

'How Beautiful are the Feet' from Handel's 'Messiah' (Part 2, scene 5) - sung by the Mezzo Soprano Marianne Lihannah and Rachel Presland is the Pianist.
(The following is from Wikipedia, with many thanks)
Messiah (HWV 56)[1] is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.
Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s, in response to changes in public taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and very little direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus Christ as Messiah. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus. In Part III he covers the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in Heaven.

How Beautiful are the Feet

Handel: How Beautiful are the Feet | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo) | Rachel Presland(Piano)

‘Montparnasse’
'Montparnasse' evokes the Montparnasse district of South Paris as perceived by an inexperienced young poet.'
It took Poulenc 4 years to complete this song, which he considers as one of his best songs. From Poulenc's diary he writes: "Anything that concerns Paris, I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music".  Apparently he was never at home outside Paris. Some composers are technical virtuosos, but Poulenc was a virtuoso of feeling, born at exactly the moment when French culture needed such a thing to make sense of its contradictions.
Poulenc captures the atmosphere of the 20'es and the 30'ies from within.  
An elegant non-chalant calm becomes associated with Paris in this song, so much that one can almost taste it.
The Apollinaire poem is self-reflective, expressing his own doubts about his poetic vision and his uncertain identity. He wonders if he will be like the pot plants in the lobby of his hotel?  Pretty, but doomed to bear no fruit.

Montparnasse

Poulenc: Montparnasse  | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo) | Pete Rosser (Piano)

"This recording sounds best, when it is played loud enough for you to hear all the drones in the background, right from the beginning".
The mezzo soprano Marianne Lihannah sings this divine processional Marian hymn which couldn't have been composed before year 1220. It is by 'Perotin' also known as 'Perotin Magister' or 'Perotin the Great' or 'Magister Perotinus'
The words are by Phillip de Chancellor a French Theologian and Latin Medieval Lyric Poet.

Blessed be the womb of the virgin Mary, at whose breast the King of illustrious name, concealing in another guise the power of his divinity, has sealed a pact between God and Man'.

 'O Wondrous Novelty and unprecedented joy of a mother still intact after giving birth'

The mysteries of the Mosaic Law are resolved. The tree sprung from the mystic rod, unknown in nature. Water gushing from the stone, a pilar showing the way to God's people are favourable signs.

'O Wondrous Novelty......

The eye cannot bear to look freely on the sun, as it rises in the air in all it's purity. Then let it behold that sun from the side, as it is reflected, in the womb of a pregnant woman, where it is enclosed entire.

'O Wondrous Novelty......
                    *************************************************************
There is actually a fourth verse which I haven't recorded as I was afraid of the chant seeming too long.

I hope you enjoy this, - I was inspired to record it after listening to 'Vox Clamantis, weekend Guitar Trio's wonderful recording of it

Beata Viscera

Perotin: Beata Viscera | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo Soprano)

A very famous Irish folk song, recorded by many singers, Classical - as well as Folk singers. The words are re-written by Padraic Colum, the author of the famous children's book 'The King of Ireland's Son'. He seems to have reworked the words of an old Ballad called 'I once had a sweetheart' and put them to an ancient Donegal air.

"This Irish folk song hasn't much to do with fairs at all. It belongs to a genre known as 'night-visiting songs'. In these songs a parting couple make a pact that should misfortune (death) befall either one, the departed one will return to the other. This is what happens. 
I've recorded this live in my local church - hence the echo -
all the best

Marianne Lihannah
This song is from mine and Charlotte Poulter's (Harp) CD, 'There is my Love', which is for sale on Itunes, CD Baby, Amazon etc 
Here is a link for amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=there+is+my+love+lihannah

She moved through the Fair

Sung LIVE by the Mezzo Soprano Marianne Lihannah as part of her LTCL Diploma Singing Recitals.
Steven Kings is the pianist. www.stevenkings.co.uk
Steven's work as a musician encompasses composing and arranging, performing as piano soloist and accompanist, teaching, training choirs and conducting.

William Fuller’s ‘divine hymn’ Lord, what is man? was set by Purcell during 1693, and published in volume 2 of Harmonia Sacra – the volume which also contains ‘The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation’. Like that work, Lord, what is man? begins with an extended passage of semi-recitative, full of intricate vocal touches and subtle harmonic emphasis. The opening question is first asked gently, then repeated with more anxiety, the singer amazed that the son of God should become (with a wonderfully crafted melodic phrase) ‘a poor tormented man’. Man is ‘lost’ at the lower end of the singer’s voice, the Son of God’s glory rises optimistically through the scale, only to ‘become a poor, tormented man’. The Deity is graphically ‘shrunk’ into a human lifespan, and ‘wondrous love’ blossoms magnificently. The singer calls on the ‘glorious spirits’ to say ‘which was more prevalent’ – their joy, pictured in a fine melisma, or the dropping interval that represents their astonishment. The contrast between the ‘worm’ that is man and the exalted position of God is vividly captured in the music.
An arioso section follows, calling for a quill ‘to write the praises’, and then, with Purcell inspired as ever at the mention of music, for ‘a voice like yours to sing that anthem here which once you sung’. An extended section of alleluias closes the work: the compelling variety of moods and phrases create such an inexorable momentum that it is easy to forget Purcell is setting just one word.

Lord, what is Man? | Purcell | Marianne Lihannah (Mezzo) | Steven Kings (Piano)

Sung LIVE by the Mezzo Soprano Marianne Lihannah as part of her LTCL Diploma Singing Recital. Steven Kings is the pianist. Steven's work as a musician encompasses composing and arranging, performing as piano soloist and accompanist, teaching, training choirs and conducting. www.stevenkings.co.uk 

‘Verschwiegene Liebe’ by Hugo Wolf  
This lyrical 'night-piece' is about 'love never declared'. 
The delicate accompaniment utilises the upper register of the piano, softly ringing as the music and words evoke an exquisitely tender feeling. 
 
Wolf was walking in Eckstein’s garden immersing himself in the mood of this poem. Unable to bear the nearby factory noises, whistling in the courtyard and the sound of carpet-beating, he sat down at the piano and wrote out the complete song in one flash of inspiration.

In this Lied there is a serenity uncharacteristic of Wolf, with his rebellious stormy life, and death in a lunatic asylum.

Verschwiegende Liebe

Hugo Wolf: Verschwiegende Liebe | Marianne Lihannah | Mezzo | Steven Kings | Piano

Sung LIVE by the Mezzo Soprano Marianne Lihannah as part of her LTCL Diploma Singing Recital. 
Steven Kings is the pianist.  www.stevenkings.co.uk
Steven's work as a musician encompasses composing and arranging, performing as piano soloist and accompanist, teaching, training choirs and conducting.

‘Erbarmes Gott’ (Rezit.) & 'Können Tränen meiner Wangen' (Aria)
by J. S. Bach  (St. Matthew Passion). 
In the Rezitative, Erbarm, es Gott (O Gracious God! Behold the Savious standeth bound), the alto addresses the executioners; which follows the scenes of the scourging of Christ, the accompaniment of strings and continuo conjures up a vivid picture of the chastisement by means of a sharp dotted rhythm which puts us in mind of the lashes from a whip, or at a metaphorical level, the incessant dotted rhythm might be said to express the hardness of Jesus' tormentors' hearts, which is referred to in the text.
The tonal centre of the music is constantly shifting; in only twelve bars the music passes through ten different keys.There is a motif of falling in the rhythm to represent the blows of the scourging, which Bach continues into the following aria which also has dotted rhythms as a main feature.

The following aria "If the tears on my cheeks can achieve nothing", presents the striking image of a faithful follower offering up his/her heart as a sacrificial cup to receive the blood gently flowing from Jesus' wounds.
It begins with a repeating figure in which ascending melodic leaps and dotted rhythms are set against a descending chord progression to create a tension that magnifies the text.

When we recollect that a setting such as Bach's St. Matthew Passion lasts by itself over three and a half hours in performance, we cannot but marvel at the powers of endurance displayed by Lutheran congregations in the early 18th century.
Much of the greatness of his Passion lies in the wonderful fusion of dramatic and meditative elements which exist as distinct entities and are yet blended with perfect artistry.
The Passion is a type of oratorio, setting to music the Gospel accounts of the events leading up to Christ's crucifixion. Bach's St. Matthew Passion is one of the grandest in scale.
The text operates on 3 levels, which interact to produce a sort of biblical opera-with-commentary.
The original Gospel text is set as semidramatic recitative.
These recitatives are interrupted at strategic moments, just as they are in opera, by reflectice arias. These arias are not sung by characters but by “voice-personas” who give utterance to the poet's own meditations on the events of the biblical narration. All the arias are adapted from a single long Passion poem in 'Erbauliche Gedanken' (Edifying thoughts), a cycle of texts for music by a friend of Bach's, a Leipzig lawyer and playwright named Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-64), who wrote under the name Picander.

The St. Matthew passion, written in the 1740s, breaks new ground as a mystical musical meditation which is based on the Oratorio style but which is primarily non-dramatic in conception.
Ever since Mendelssohn's legendary revival of the work in 1829, the St. Matthew Passion has been hailed as the greatest setting of the Passion story in western music.
Bach is generally regarded as being the end of a musical epoch, as being, to paraphrase Beethoven's celebrated dictum “the great ocean into which all the streams of earlier musical endeavour flow.”
In Bach's music completely new harmonic language is forged. A superior harmonic sense is the mark of nearly all the great composers, the one thing that sets them off from their more tmid and less inventive contemporaries. Where most composers of his day would confine themselves to the rules, Bach made the rules.
Bach was the last of the great church musicians. He holds a position in the history of the Lutheran church equivalent of that of Palestrina in the Catholic church.

‘Erbarm es Gott’ & 'Können Tränen meiner Wangen'

Erbarm es Gott | Können Tränen meiner Wangen | J. S. Bach | St. Matthew Passion

‘Le Jardin Mouillé' (The Wet Garden), (Op. 3, no. 3) by Albert Roussel from 'Quatre Poèmes' - words by Henri de Régnier This lyrical 'mélodie' has exquisite subtlety and incomparable atmosphere. The falling rain, depicted in the piano with poetic vividness, is a beautiful backdrop for the words. In the last paragraph; the rain is imagined as tears on an 'inner landscape in shadow'. Albert Roussel began composing under the influence of French Impressionism. Its exotic moods and poetic association is heard in this composition. Later Roussel became interested in the neo-classicism of Stravinsky and combines great harmonic refinement with a marked diversity of rhythm in an entirely personal style.

Le Jardin Mouille

Le Jardin Mouille | Roussel | Marianne Lihannah (mezzo) | Steven Kings (piano)

Sung LIVE by the Mezzo Soprano Marianne Lihannah as part of her LTCL Diploma Singing Recital. Steven Kings is the pianist. 
From Three songs for voice and piano, Opus 45.
This cheerful setting is Barber's swan song for the voice, but was actually written during his last troubled years.
It presents a hilarious fusion of pianos and cows – full of surprises, and it embodies  surrealistic images of text through word painting. Double trills on the word gurgle. The interruption of a waltz rhythm by an elongated stress on the first syllable of the word moonish, suggests the mooing of cows.

Barber composed through a modernist lens, incorporated some 20th-century techniques, but sourced his main inspiration from the Romantic period.

Steven's work as a musician encompasses composing and arranging, performing as piano soloist and accompanist, teaching, training choirs and conducting. www.stevenkings.co.uk

A Green Lowland of Pianos

Samuel Barber : A Green Lowland of Pianos | Marianne Lihannah (mezzo) | Steven Kings (piano)

Marianne Lihannah sings the well-known air 'Danny Boy' over a nyckelharpa drone.
The real story behind Danny Boy, the beloved Irish ballad :
"Danny Boy" holds its position firmly - as one of the most popular and recognizable Irish songs of all time. 
Few people are aware, however, of the true origins of Ireland's infamous and unofficial national anthem, such as the fact that it's not even a completely Irish song. 
In 2001, the Irish-American actor and writer Malachy McCourt took it upon himself to unravel the mystery of perhaps the most popular Irish song ever in his book "Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad."
Who is Danny? Why are the pipes calling? 
It has since become a generally accepted (although still potentially blasphemous) fact that the lyrics of "Danny Boy" are in no way related to Ireland.
Not only are the famed lyrics not Irish but they were not even written by an Irishman, and no matter how vehemently the Irish claim authorship of the song, the fact remains that "Danny Boy" was written by, of all people, a British lawyer, McCourt writes. 

The origins of the "Danny Boy" tune
In the hands of the Limerick-born author-actor, the musical story of "Danny Boy" has its roots way back in the terrible 1690 siege of Derry in Northern Ireland, and its colorful cast of characters includes Charles Dickens' son and a Jack the Ripper suspect.
In his quest to unravel the mystery, McCourt enlisted poet Seamus Heaney, actress Roma Downey, and even his Pulitzer Prize-winning brother Frank, to explain "Danny Boy"'s enduring appeal.  McCourt distorts everything we previously believed of our beloved song revealing that "Danny Boy" is not even a completely original song but a version among the 100s of different lyrics set to the tune of the "Derry Air."
The original air is believed by some to date back to Rory Dall O'Cahan, an Irish harpist who lived in Scotland in the late 17th century, while the lyrics as we love and know them today were penned by a British barrister and prolific song writer, Frederick Edward Weatherly. 
To add insult to injury, the lyrics weren't even originally used with the "Derry Air" having been written by Weatherly for another tune in 1910 in Bath, Somerset. In 1913, Weatherly's sister sent him the tune of "Derry Air," he adapted the lyrics to the tune and it was an instant success.
Weatherly gave the song to the English opera singer Elsie Grffin, who introduced the song to a wider audience. The first recording was made in 1915 by the German vocalist Ernestine Schumann-Heink. 

No matter the origins, "Danny Boy" has still become the song of the Irish, with Irish people worldwide identifying with its words and associating it with our country's struggle for independence.  
An extract from Tom Deignan's article from Irish Central, do read the full article here: https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/danny-boy-beloved-irish-ballad

Meaning:
Various suggestions exist as to the true meaning of "Danny Boy". Some have interpreted the song to be a message from a parent to a son going off to a war or uprising (as suggested by the reference to "pipes calling glen to glen") or leaving as part of the Irish diaspora.
The 1918 version of the sheet music included alternative lyrics ("Eily Dear"), with the instructions that "when sung by a man, the words in italic should be used; the song then becomes "Eily Dear", so that "Danny Boy" is only to be sung by a lady". In spite of this, it is unclear whether this was Weatherly's intent. Indeed, the song has been covered by a diverse range of male singers, but they all stick to the original lyrics.

Danny Boy

Danny Boy | Marianne Lihannah | Trad. Irish Folk Song | nyckelharpa | voice

Gjendines bådnlåt is a traditional lullaby which can be traced back to Kaia Gjendine Slålien (1870-1971), a milkmaid from the Jotunheimen area. Well known for her repertoire of songs, she met Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) on several occasions. Many of her ballads and lullabies formed the basis for his 1896 collection of “19 Norwegian Folk Songs – Op.66” which he arranged for the piano. Gjendines bådnlåt is the last piece in the collection. My version of the lullaby is mixing up various versions of the lullaby.

Lyrics:

Bånet legges i vuggen ned
stundom gråter, stundom ler (x2)
sove nå sove nå, I Jesu namn
Jesus bevare bånet (x2)

Min mor ho tok meg på sitt fang
dansa med meg fram og tilbake
Min mor ho tok meg på sitt fang
dansa med meg att och fram
Danse så med de små, danse så
så skal borna danse (x2)


Translation:
The child is placed in the crib
Sometimes crying, sometimes smiling
Sleep now, sleep now, in the name of Jesus
Jesus keep the child safe
 
My mother takes me in her arms
danced with me back and forth
Dance with the little ones, dance
So shall they dance

Gjendine's Lullaby

Gjendines Lullaby (Gjendines bådnlåt)  | Trad. Norwegian Folk | Marianne Lihannah | Nyckelharpa

This wonderful aria is sung by the mezzo soprano Marianne Lihannah and accompanied by a great pianist from the unique company www.mp3accompanist.com
I am so grateful for this wonderful contribution. 
'Bist Du bei Mir' is composed by Gottfried H. Stölzel, used by Johann Sebastian Bach in his piano book for his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach. Therefore it is often wrongly assumed to be composed by Bach. An aria with a hauntingly beautiful melody made grippingly memorable by the poem's directly spoken words. This piece has become very popular for special celebrations & ceremonies, both for weddings and funerals alike. It was featured in the French film 'Joyeux Noel'.

Gottfried H. Stölzel | Bist Du Bei Mir | Marianne Lihannah | Mezzo Soprano

‘Morgen’ (Tomorrow)                                                                3.04 min.        
By Richard Strauss (1864-1949), with words by John Henry Mackay.

 This unique song is one of the four glorious songs that Strauss presented to his beloved Pauline (a distinguished singer) on their wedding day in 1894. 
The words are very romantic; here is a translation from the German of some of the words:
“And tomorrow the sun will shine again. And on the path that I will be following she will (the sun) unite us again, - us happy ones.
In silence we will gaze into one another’s eyes and the silent silence of happiness will descend on us.”
This song is on the CD, 'There is my Love', released by harpist Charlotte Poulter and myself. It is available for sale in digital stores as well as a physical CD.

There is my Love

Morgen

Morgen | Richard Strauss | Marianne Lihannah | Charlotte Poulter | Harp

Marianne Lihannah sings verse 1 and 4 of the beautiful and mysterious, 'My Lagan Love', over Nyckelharpa drones, with a little nyckelharpa solo in the middle.

MY LAGAN LOVE
words Joseph Campbell (a.k.a Seosamh MacCathmhaoil, 1879-1944)
tune traditional Irish (the Belfast maid)

The words of the 2 verses I have missed out are:

Verse 2: 
Her father sails a running-barge
'Twixt Leamh-beag and The Druim;
And on the lonely river-marge
She elears his hearth for him.
When she was only fairy-high
Her gentle mother died;
But *dew-Love keeps her memory  
Green on the Lagan side. 

Verse 3:
And oft-times, when the beetle's horn
Hath lulled the eve to sleep,
I steal unto her shieling lorn,     ("shieling" - a shepherd's summer hut, like a barn or a cottage)
And thro' the dooring peep.
There on the crickets' singing-stone
She spares the bogwood fire,
And hums in sad, sweet under-tone
The song of hearts-desire.


*Dubh (pronounced doov or dew) = dark. One usually meets the sidhe at the crossroads, or at the crossing from day to night. 

The Lagan river in this song, is the Lagan near Belfast. Campbell was born in Castlereagh Road, east Belfast, just a couple of miles from the Lagan. 
In his youth he suffered from some "nervous" problems and often went for long rambles along the Lagan's banks.

To quote from Mary O'Hara's notes on this song, from her book "A Song For Ireland", - "The leánan sídhe (fairy mistress) mentioned in the song is a malicious figure who frequently crops up in Gaelic love stories. One could call her the femme fatale of Gaelic folklore. She sought the love of men; if they refused, she became their slave, but if they consented, they became her slaves and could only escape by finding another to take their place. She fed off them so her lovers gradually wasted away - a common enough theme in Gaelic medieval poetry, which often saw love as a kind of sickness. Most Gaelic poets in the past had their leanán sídhe to give them inspiration. This malignant fairy was for them a sort of Gaelic muse. On the other hand, the crickets mentioned in the song are a sign of good luck and their sound on the hearth a good omen. It was the custom of newly-married couples about to set up home to bring crickets from the hearths of their parents' house and place them in the new hearth."

From Wikipedia:
"My Lagan Love" is a song to a traditional Irish air collected in 1903 in northern Donegal.
The English lyrics have been credited to Joseph Campbell (1879–1944, also known as Seosamh MacCathmhaoil and Joseph McCahill, among others). Campbell was a Belfast man whose grandparents came from the Irish-speaking area of Flurrybridge, South Armagh. He started collecting songs in County Antrim. In 1904 he began a collaboration with composer Herbert Hughes. Together, they collected traditional airs from the remote parts of County Donegal.

While on holidays in Donegal, Hughes had learned the air from Proinseas mac Suibhne, who had learned it from his father Seaghan mac Suibhne, who in turn had learned it fifty years previously from a man working with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. Campbell said that mac Suibhne knew the tune under the title of "The Belfast Maid", but did not know the words. A song by this title was published in various early 19th century broadsides, with the first lines "In Belfast town of high renown / There lives a comely maid".This ballad now has Roud number 2930.

The Lagan referred to in the title most likely is the River Lagan in Belfast. Campbell's words mention Lambeg, which is just outside the city. The Lagan is the river that runs through Belfast. However, some argue that the Lagan in the song refers to a stream that empties into Lough Swilly in County Donegal, not far from where Herbert Hughes collected the song.

My Lagan Love

My Lagan Love | Irish Folk | Marianne Lihannah | Voice & Nyckelharpa

"I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls", or "The Gipsy Girl's Dream" is sung acapella by Marianne Lihannah in a fusion of Irish folk and classical. It is a popular aria from The Bohemian Girl, an 1843 opera by Michael William Balfe, with lyrics by Alfred Bunn. In the opera it is sung by the character Arline, who is in love with Thaddeus, a Polish nobleman & political exile.
In addition to its regular performance in the opera, & in cast recordings of the opera, the aria, has been recorded many times by a variety of musicians as a stand-alone song. It has also been parodied.
    Lewis Carroll's parody of the lyrics was published in Lays of Mystery, Imagination and Humour in 1855:
        I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
        And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
        went wobble-wobble on the walls...
    Willa Cather referenced the work in her short story "The Bohemian Girl", which incorporates quotes from some of the arias, including "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls". The plot of the story also has some substantial parallels to the opera.
    The Bohemian Girl is mentioned in the short stories "Clay" and "Eveline" by James Joyce. The aria is quoted again in Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake.
    The song appears in a film version of The Bohemian Girl produced in 1936 by Hal Roach, which starred Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as the gypsy foster parents of the Count's daughter, Darla Hood as young Arline and Jacqueline Wells as adult Arline: the dubbed singing voice is that of Rosina Lawrence.
    An instrumental version is heard in the 1936 Western The Three Mesquiteers, & also in the theater scene from the 1946 John Ford western My Darling Clementine.
    A brief version appears in the 1939 movie Naughty but Nice. Gale Page sings an a cappella ditty ("Millions of Dreams Ago", with lyrics by Johnny Mercer) to music professor Dick Powell.
    * The opera is mentioned & the aria referred to several times, in the 1944 novel Dragonwyck, by Anya Seton. The song makes a brief appearance in the 1946 film adaptation of the book.
   
    A version is played and sung in the 1948 Jeanne Crain / William Holden movie Apartment for Peggy.
    The first line of the song is sung and "scatted" in the number, "Swing," from the 1953 Broadway show Wonderful Town.
    An instrumental version is heard in the background in the 1955 film “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing” during a scene between Joan Collins and Ray Milland as Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White.
    The first line is sung, off-screen, by aspiring botanist Seymour in the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors.
    A rather unexpected appearance of the song is in the 1966 Howard Hawks film El Dorado, where it is played in the saloon just prior to the climactic gunfight.
    An ambient, ethereal version was recorded by The Irish singer Enya for her Grammy-winning 1991 album, Shepherd Moons: this version was featured on the soundtrack of the 1993 Martin Scorsese film The Age of Innocence.
    The aria is played and sung by the character Clementina Cavendish (Florence Hoath) in the 1998 film The Governess.
    The song can be heard being played on the piano in the background of the Deadwood episode "Something Very Expensive at the Bella Union".
    It is sung by Nancy, in the closing scene of the final episode of the BBC television series Dickensian.
    It was played at the start of the 1972 TV comedy series "In for a penny".
    The song is played in the background of "The Case of the Fraudulent Foto" (1959) in Perry Mason.
    The protagonist in Sarah Perry's novel Melmoth (2018) sings the song to a burn victim in a hospital in Manila (as "I dreamed I dwelt" rather than "I dreamt I dwelt") & is later haunted by someone (unknown and unseen) singing it in Prague.
    The song can be heard many times in the background of the fictional Carlton Hotel in 1870s San Francisco, in Episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel (TV series)it is played in a very up-tempo beat on piano.

Marble halls

Marble Halls | The Gypsy Girl's Dream | Marianne Lihannah | Acapella

'The Darkest Midnight in December' is an Irish traditional folk carol for Christmas night, after Fr William Devereux, 1728. It is from Fr Devereux's collection of Kilmore Christmas carols, called 'A New Garland'. These Christmas Carols are much more like folk songs.
I used to consider this beautiful Carol, as MY Christmas Carol. I have sung it as a solo during several Christmas concerts when I sang with the choir, 'Tonalis Company of Singers' and the choir 'Choros'. I have also sung it in folk clubs etc.
There are actually quite a few verses, but I only sing verse 1, first solo acapella and then as a duet with myself and nyckelharpa drones.
This Christmas carol can be found in many Carol books with all the many ornaments actually written into the sheet music, true to the sean noes style from the West of Ireland.

The Kilmore Carols are found only in Wexford, and date back more than 300 years. In 1684 Luke Waddinge, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ferns, published A Smale Garland of Pious and Godly Songs. The cover inscription continues: "Composed by a devout Man/ For the Solace of his Friends and/ neighbours in their afflictions." The book contained 11 Christmas songs, two of which are still sung in Kilmore today. The texts were new, while the melodies were drawn from various traditional sources.
Waddinge died shortly after his book appeared, but interest in the subject was revived by a Father William Devereux, parish priest of Drinagh, Wexford from 1730-1771 (the current Devereuxes in Kilmore are almost certainly related to this priest). Devereux published A New Garland Containing Songs for Christmas. This included some of his own carols along with a few from Waddinge's collection.

Father R. Ranson, who published an edition of the Devereux book in 1949, claims that "the carols were first sung in a little chapel at Killiane, and tradition seems to indicate that the choir consisted of six men." The chapel in question was "no more than a mud hut".

The carols proved very popular, and manuscript copies quickly spread to neighbouring parishes, including Kilmore. Diarmaid O Muirithe, who has assembled and edited a collection of all the Wexford Carols (The Wexford Carols, Dolmen Press, 1982) observes: "They were sung in most of the churches of south Wexford in the 18th century, and even well into the 19th century. I think it's a great pity that they're now no longer sung outside Kilmore." O Muirithe considers that the church hierarchy in Wexford is to some extent responsible for the carols' decline. "For centuries they had been regarded by the church with a kind of benign tolerance, no more than that."

One priest in Kilmore Quay in the 19th century decided to get rid of the carols altogether and replace them with Victorian hymnody. "But the people in Kilmore decided they wouldn't be banished. The priest was banished instead, because nobody came into the church the next year. The bishop had to transfer him."

The Darkest Midnight in December

The Darkest Midnight in December | Trad Irish Folk Carol

Marianne is a versatile singer and singersongwriter, who also plays the nyckelharpa. She is both the director and the singer of the successful businesses Funeral Singer UK and Wedding Singer UK.
She is also the lead singer in the duo Elyssia. And the alto in the duo Si Canta.

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