"The Lost Chord" is a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later. The lyric was written as a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter called "A Lost Chord", published in 1860 in The English Woman's Journal.[1]
The song was immediately successful[2] and became particularly associated with American contralto Antoinette Sterling, with Sullivan's close friend and mistress, Fanny Ronalds, and with British contralto Clara Butt. Sullivan was proud of the song and later noted: "I have composed much music since then, but have never written a second Lost Chord."[3]
Many singers have recorded the song, including Enrico Caruso, who sang it at the Metropolitan Opera House on 29 April 1912 at a benefit concert for families of victims of the Titanic disaster.[4] The piece has endured as one of Sullivan's best-known songs, and the setting is still performed today.[5]
- ^ Proctor, Adelaide Anne. "The Lost Chord", The English Woman's Journal, March 1860, p. 36
- ^ Jacobs, p. 2
- ^ "The Lost Chord", The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 13 August 2014
- ^ 1912 Caruso recording, Encyclopedia-titanica.org, 2005, accessed 28 August 2014
- ^ "The Lost Chord, song for voice & piano"[permanent dead link], All Music Guide, ClassicalArchives.net, 2008