Flower of the Month – September “An Autumn Song”
You can listen to the recording below & look forward to hearing the song live at Conway Hall, London on September 26th!
September
“An Autumn Song”
Eliza Flower (1803–1846)
for soprano, mezzo and piano
performed by
Maxence Marmy – Soprano
Samantha Houston – Mezzo
You can follow the text on the video above
Click here for more “Flower of the Month” Songs
Our podcasts are free to download and listen, but you can donate by clicking below. Just £1.50 keeps the series online for another week!
Tinted lithograph of a drawing by Mrs E Bridell Fox, 1898/99 courtesy of Conway Hall Ethical Society
In nature the flower of this month is Morning Glory which it seems the Victorians believed represented unrequited love, and indeed death. 
These wonderful ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE singers will perform the song live at
Conway Hall, London on Thursday 26th September, 2024
– its first public performance in 200 years –
get your tickets here for “September Songs”
you will be the first in several centuries to hear more of Eliza Flower’s work revived for 4 voices including protest songs, dramatic scenes & anthems and you will be introduced to her new website where you’ll be able to download scores, listen to a wide selection of her music & catch up on all our Eliza Flower projects.
Maxence is a London-based Swiss singer, comedian and dancer who recently graduated in Musical Theatre from the London College of Music, having discovered her passion for singing through opera. She has been touring in Europe with her co-devised show – Miss Brexit – and taken part in ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE’s Young Singers Programme – including Workshops and June Song of the Month. Maxence is excited to be making her debut appearance with Electric Voice Theatre this September. Outside interests include spending time with friends and family and travelling to experience new people and cultures.
September
“An Autumn Song”
Mary Howitt (1799-1888)
Summer waneth night and morning,
Night and morning, waneth!
Flowers are fading on the lea,
Leaves are changing on the tree,
Gossamer is silv’ry bright,
Thistle-down is floating white,
Every blossom’s leaf is shed,
Fruits are hanging ripe and red
Singing birds have flown away,-
After this can summer stay?
No, no,
The year must go,
Summer has departed now.
*****
Autumn cometh night and morning,
Night and morning, cometh!
By the nightly rising moon,
By the splendours of the noon,
By the flowers that have no fellow,
Purple, crimson, gold, and yellow;
By the pattering drily down
Of the nuts and acorns brown,
By the silent forest bough,
All may know ‘tis autumn now.
Fast or slow,
The year must go,
And ‘tis gorgeous autumn now.
Samantha has been working with ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE for the past 3 years, appearing in many lockdown ZOOM performances (see some videos here) and this summer at live Festivals in Harlow and Conway Hall. She has become a bit of a tech whizz while singing at her computer – an inconceivable prospect pre-pandemic that is now a vital life skill.
A keen baker, cinema-goer, language learner, and amateur interior designer (with an eye for anything Art Deco), she has now added ‘playwright’ to her CV! Her play Destination: ‘Old Hag’ premiered at Bath Fringe in June 2024, with a follow on south of England tour till October 2024.
The words of the song were written by Mary Howitt (1799-1888) an English poet and author who is best know for her children’s poem “The Spider and the Fly“
“Will you walk into my parlour?”
said the Spider to the Fly,
“‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The painting below, created in 1846, shows her with her husband William, another author. The artist, Margaret Gillies also made a portrait of Eliza’s sister, the poet Sarah Flower Adams which you can see on the July Flower of the Month Page
William Howitt (1792–1879) and Mary Howitt (1799–1888), by Margaret Gillies (1803–1887)
Photo Credit: Nottingham City Museums and Galleries (CC BY-NC)
September
“An Autumn Song”
from
“Songs of the Months”
published by A J Novello, December 1834
The short editorial introduction explains that each song appeared throughout 1834 in the Monthly Repository – a publication associated with South Place Chapel where Flower’s life and work was based.
By 1897, this publication had become South Place Magazine, which in September that year included an article about Eliza’s transformational work with the choir at the Chapel:-
South Place was at this time (1833) like other Unitarian chapels, until Miss Flower, under the inspiration of Purcell, commenced a reformation in the musical part of the services, which Mary Howitt declares, in her autobiography, “rivalled the attraction to the chapel of its excellent Minister”.
Howitt contributed at least one other text for Flower to set – a hymn “The earth is thine and it thou keepest “, which she arranged to an air of Hummel’s.
We are releasing each song on video in its allotted month during 2024. Please go to our Flower of the Month page for more information and to hear all of the songs we recorded 2023.
raising the profile of music by women
