Elizabeth Poston 1905–87
Composer; Arranger; Editor ; Pianist; BBC
“Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention, and thank you for all the valuable work you are doing to champion wonderful composers like Elizabeth Poston!”
Multitude of Voyces is the official representative of the literary and musical estate of Elizabeth Poston.
At this time the charity cannot authorise the third party use of the Poston Copyrights or any other uses of the Charity's privileged information.
Our authorised Project Partners for the Poston Project are Continuum and Gesualdo Six.
A Settled Rest (SSA & harp)
This was Poston's final work, prepared for publication by her friend and future executor, Simon Campion for its premiere performance in March 1987 at the Albert Hall (London) at a service to celebrate the Centenary of Women's World Day of Prayer. The work was performed by The Chamber Choir of the Arts Educational School, Tring Park (Hertfordshire, UK).
In keeping with some other works by Poston, she adds her own 'signature' to the setting, adding an Alleluia to the original text by Isaac Watts.
An English Day-Book (SSA & harp)
This multi-part work for upper voices and harp was composed in 1967 following requests for Poston to create a work to complement Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols.
Two short movements from Corvus Consort's recent recording are shown here: please follow the links below to access the whole recording.
An English Day-Book (SSA & harp)
Redacted score for perusal only.
Not legal for use.
“I’ll have a look through the scores later on today -
it’s very exciting !”
Christmas Day (Unison voices & piano)
Number 1 in A Christmas Selection (1)
Christmas Day, Elizabeth’s setting of a short poem by the Priest, poet and naturalist Andrew Young (1885–1971), represents her limited output of settings of modern poetry.
Other works in this booklet are:
O my deir heart (SATB + descant (opt. accomp)
Behold a silly tender babe (SATB + descant opt. accomp)
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (SSAATB opt. accomp).
December Lulling (SATB)
December Lulling - Commentary
December Lulling is the penultimate movement of the unpublished multi-part work An English Kalendar, a choral sequence for Soprano solo, SAATB chorus, Piano and Percussion. The work was apparently commissioned by the Farnham Festival, though the details are still unclear, and in 1971 the premiere performance, given by Tiffin School pupils and staff, was recorded, though not released commercially. The full cycle is an extensive piece and lasts for more than 30 minutes, making use of an eclectic selection of musical forms and percussion instruments including xylophone and tubular bells.
In a manner similar to Poston’s earlier multi-part work, An English Day-Book, the passage of time provides a very loose framework for the sequence, though unlike An English Day-Book, An English Kalendar includes dramatic narrative, a favoured device of Poston’s, frequently used by her in commissions for BBC Radio. In the poem each month is personified in the first person, with the narrator linking religious events and Feast Days to the seasons and routines of English pastoral and farming life of the 16th century.
The text of December Lulling is the final stanza of a rather grandiose devotional poem, The Kalender of Shepardes, which was published some time after 1498 by the printer Julian Notary. The writer of the text is unknown, despite the poem apparently serving as a major influence on the poet Edmund Spenser’s poem of a similar name and theme, The Shepheardes Calender, which was published only a few generations after The Kalender of Shepardes.
In this contemplative setting, which is for voices only, and describes the Nativity of Christ, the ‘story-telling’ of the soloists is set against earnestly-repeated refrains of ‘Lulla’ and ‘Lullaby’ which words do not appear in the original poem. This may be a deliberate reference to the second of the songs in the 15th century Coventry mystery play The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors which is generally referred to as the Coventry Carol and was set to music by many of Poston’s contemporaries. A feeling of foreboding underlies the gentle celebration of Jesus' birth.
The title of the movement, December Lulling, appears to be Poston’s own.
©MoV 2025
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (SSAATB)
Her original miniature for voice and piano, The Apple Tree, the text of which may well have been written by the Calvinist Baptist pastor Richard Hutchins (fl. 1759), was published in Bodley Head’s The Children’s Song Book (1961). Her choral version – Jesus Christ the Apple Tree – arranged for The Cambridge Hymnal, quickly became her most celebrated work.
Salve Iesus, Little Lad! (SS & piano)
This beautiful carol is one of Poston's earliest works, composed in her late teens. The original publication of the work in 1923 was overseen by her mother, Clementine, but deprived Elizabeth of some of the rights she so keenly guarded in her later life as a composer.
The Lamb (S or T & piano)
The Lamb was first published in Poston's The Children's Song Book (Bodley Head 1961). That publication featured several original settings of short religious texts, intended by Poston to be learned and performed domestically. The song is equally suitable for liturgical use.
Elizabeth Poston (1905–87) - Short Biography
Elizabeth Poston was born in rural Hertfordshire, where she lived for most of her life. She studied composition and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in the mid-1920s and throughout her life she frequently performed in premieres of her own works, including live broadcasts.
Her skills as a multi-linguist (especially of European languages) enabled her to create her own translations and editions of texts and many of these were published within anthologies for which she was editor, composer and arranger, including The Children’s Song Book and the Penguin Book of Folksongs.
Her compositional output was varied, encompassing dramatico-musical plays, chamber works, secular and sacred choral settings, and solo songs which were often inspired by her love of folksong and the countryside. She was widely commissioned by amateur and professional choirs alike encompassing local schools, choral societies and the BBC Singers with whom she had a particular association through her employment as Director of Music for the BBC European Service during World War II and afterwards as a regular contributor to the BBC Third Programme (Radio 3) as advisor, composer, arranger and biographer.
©MoV 2025 Elizabeth Poston’s music remains under copyright until the end of 2058. For all enquiries please contact Multitude of Voyces
Additional information
Our major project needs dedicated funding additional to the charity's core funding. An initial fund of £40,000 is being raised to complete the first phase of work. Donations of any size are warmly welcomed.
Donate via our CAF Bank Poston Project account
https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/22923
(where Gift Aid can be applied automatically)