Week 11 - "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls"

Text by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

I wrote this piece for a composition competition. The requirements were for a piece that is a setting of a poem in the English language about water for piano and baritone voice. I chose "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" by Longfellow, which is a rondeau, and therefore lends well to being set to music.