The Long Day Closes is a part song with lyrics by Henry Fothergill Chorley and music by Arthur Sullivan, published in 1868. It has become Sullivan's best-known part song, and is one of seven that he published that year. Sullivan wrote most of his twenty part songs prior to the beginning of his long collaboration with W. S. Gilbert. Chorley had also collaborated with Sullivan on other songs, on Sullivan's first (but never-produced) opera, The Sapphire Necklace (completed in 1867), and on a piece for chorus and orchestra, The Masque at Kenilworth (Birmingham Festival, 1864).
With the growth of choral societies during the Victorian era, part songs became popular in Britain. The plaintive harmonies of The Long Day Closes and the text's touching meditation on death have made the song a frequent selection at events of mourning. Musicologist Jeremy Dibble observes that in particular, it was often sung at funerals of members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
On 16 December 1879, Sullivan attended a concert at the Mendelssohn Glee Club in New York, where the song was on the programme. He remarked in his diary that it had been 'admirably sung and encored'.
Jeremy Dibble believes that one of the work's most attractive qualities is the way Sullivan has skilfully manipulated Chorley's text to create a modified ternary scheme. He says that it has remained popular in both its original version for men's voices, and the later arrangement for mixed choir.
Terence Davies's 1992 film The Long Day Closes uses a recording of the song by Pro Cantione AntiquaStevenson, Joseph. Pro Cantione Antiqua – Biography, Allmusic, accessed 16 April 2012 singing the song a cappella."Sound And The Fury: Terence Davies" , BFI Sight and Sound, April 2007, accessed 16 April 2012 Carl Davis included the theme from the song in his instrumental score for the 1999 Mike Leigh film Topsy-Turvy, along with themes from most of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Another recording was included in the 1999 album Sullivan: The Masque at Kenilworth – Music for Royal and National Occasions, sung by the Oxford Pro Musica Singers.Shepherd, Marc. , Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 12 April 2009
Lyrics
No star is o'er the lake, Its pale watch keeping, The moon is half awake, Through grey mist creeping, The last red leaves fall round The porch of roses, The clock hath ceased to sound, The long day closes.
Sit by the silent hearth In calm endeavour, To count the sounds of mirth, Now dumb for ever. Heed not how hope believes And fate disposes: Shadow is round the eaves, The long day closes.
The lighted windows dim Are fading slowly. The fire that was so trim Now quivers lowly.
Go to the dreamless bed Where grief reposes; Thy book of toil is read, The long day closes, etc.
Source
Recordings PerformersAlbumYearLabel Oxford Pro Musica Singers The Masque at Kenilworth: Music for Royal and National Occasions 1999 Symposium The King's Singers Romance Du Soir 2009 Signum Classics Hilliard Ensemble The Romantic Englishman 2009 Duo Pro Cantione Antiqua Traditional Glees and Madrigals 2010 Alto Quartonal Another Way: English Vocal Music 2013 Sony Polyteknikkojen Kuoro Laululla 2017 Polyteknikkojen Kuoro Kantos Chamber Choir Sullivan Part Songs 2020 MPR Amarcord Meisterklasse 2022 Apollon Classics The Sixteen Sirens' Song 2023 CORO Tenebrae A Prayer for Deliverance 2025 Signum Classics VOCES8 Choral music from across the centuries 2025 BBC Music Magazine
Sources: WorldCat and Apple Classical
References
External links "The Long Day Closes" at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Vocal score at the IMSLP "The Long Day Closes" at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography Information about Sullivan's part songs at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Detailed review of recording of The Long Day Closes Clip of the song being sung at the 2008 Proms at Royal Albert Hall