Composed 1903; 4 minutes

Composed in 1903, “Silent Noon” belongs to the early blossoming of Ralph Vaughan Williams, written when he was not yet thirty and still shaping his vision as a composer. It sets a sonnet from The House of Life by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), whose sensuous imagery captures two lovers resting in rapt stillness beneath the summer sun. The vocal line unfolds in long, arching phrases over a radiant, flowing accompaniment capturing Rossetti’s Pre-Raphaelite attention to sensory richness. With its seamless union of poetry and melody, “Silent Noon” stands among the finest achievements of English art song.