Hebrew Melodies

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

Byron wrote the Hebrew Melodies to accompany music by the composer Isaac Nathan which he claimed derived from Synagogue tunes used at the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, although it is likely that most of the music was from more recent European sources. While some of the poems are based on stories from the Book of Job most have no specific religious or Hebrew connotations.

The poems were widely admired, influencing works by Heine and Lermontov and being set to music by composers including Mendelssohn, Schumann and Mussorgsky.

(Summary by Alan Mapstone)

Genre(s): Lyric

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 She Walks in Beauty Alan Mapstone
00:01:55
Play 02 The Harp the Monarch Minstrel Swept Alan Mapstone
00:01:40
Play 03 If That High World Alan Mapstone
00:01:22
Play 04 The Wild Gazelle Alan Mapstone
00:01:48
Play 05 Oh! Weep for Those Alan Mapstone
00:01:23
Play 06 On Jordan's Banks Alan Mapstone
00:01:28
Play 07 Jephtha's Daughter Alan Mapstone
00:01:51
Play 08 Oh! Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom Alan Mapstone
00:01:34
Play 09 My Soul is Dark Alan Mapstone
00:01:26
Play 10 I Saw Thee Weep Alan Mapstone
00:01:18
Play 11 Thy Days are Done Alan Mapstone
00:01:25
Play 12 It is the Hour Alan Mapstone
00:01:18
Play 13 Song of Saul Before his Last Battle Alan Mapstone
00:01:17
Play 14 Saul Alan Mapstone
00:02:31
Play 15 "All is Vanity saith the Preacher" Alan Mapstone
00:01:49
Play 16 When Coldness Wraps Alan Mapstone
00:02:34
Play 17 Vision of Belshazzar Alan Mapstone
00:02:54
Play 18 Sun of the Sleepless Alan Mapstone
00:01:03
Play 19 Were my Bosom as False as Thou Deem'st It to Be Alan Mapstone
00:01:23
Play 20 Herod's Lament for Mariamne Alan Mapstone
00:02:09
Play 21 On the Day of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Alan Mapstone
00:02:17
Play 22 By the Rivers of Babylon we Sat Down and Wept Alan Mapstone
00:01:26
Play 23 The Destruction of Semnacherib Alan Mapstone
00:02:20
Play 24 From Job Alan Mapstone
00:01:24
Play 25 Lines on the Death of Sir Peter Parker, Bart. Alan Mapstone
00:02:56