Setting of a poem called 'A Private' by the WW1 poet, Edward Thomas who was killed near Arras in 1917.
The initial setting was for tenor voice and piano, but I took out the words and arranged it for string quartet.
Thomas was ambiguous about volunteering for the army. His poetry features the English landscape with people missing from it. I tried to capture the conflict of emotion. The cello provides a 'walking bass' that suggests the marching soldier. 'The Private' commemorates a ploughman, used to sleeping out of doors, who now sleeps in the soil in France.

Song without words for String Quartet

John Middleton

Related tracks