In The Wilderness | Ian Sidden

Despite and Still: Part II “In the Wilderness”

[for thoughts on "Despite and Still" and "Solitary Hotel" see here.]

The middle song in Samuel Barber’s cycle Despite and Still is titled “In the Wilderness”, and like the first and last (one and five respectively) the poem is Robert Graves’. Graves wrote it when he was young, and his belief in

Despite and Still Pt. I: “Despite and Still” “Solitary Hotel”

For the past 4 or 5 months I have been pondering Samuel Barber’s song cycle Despite and Still op. 41. I first heard it listening to the complete songs album with Thomas Hampson singing and John Browning on piano. Through their performances – along with Cheryl Studer’s – I was taken by