Patrick Hadley: My Beloved Spake (1938)

A Happy Easter

From The Land of Lost Content

Patrick Hadley’s short choral work My Beloved Spake sets a biblical text from the Old Testament Book, the Song of Solomon (2:10-13,16a). It was completed in 1938. The anthem has long been popular at Anglican church services, particularly during the Easter season.

My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

“The text speaks of the arrival of spring and symbolizes the awakening of love. Hadley’s composition captures the essence of this renewal with a lush, romantic musical setting that contrasts with the austerity of the Lenten season. The work begins with a call to “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away,” reflecting the passage’s pastoral and inviting nature.

The music is characterized by its rich harmonies and melodic beauty, reflecting the English pastoral tradition. Hadley’s skilful use of choral textures and dynamics brings the text to life, creating a piece that is both evocative and deeply moving.”

Christopher Palmer (Musical Times, November 1973, p.1107) writes that “Like Delius and Vaughan Williams, [Hadley] is essentially a nature mystic, even in the most celebrated of his shorter church pieces, the anthem My Beloved Spake…here, pregnantly and pragmatically expressed, is the vernal ecstasy of the magnificent first movement of The Hills ('The Hills in Spring'), the lovely Solitary Reaper (Wordsworth) and of the river-music in the wartime cantata The Travellers, where at the words “Your own voice [will] speak of the wonders to be” there is a sudden sunburst of sound with cymbal roll and harp glissandos shooting in both directions. The climaxes in My Beloved Spake are of similar quality.”

This anthem remains a demonstration of Hadley’s contribution to 20th-century British choral music and continues to be appreciated for its lyrical polish and emotional depth.

A splendid recording of Patrick Hadley’s My Beloved Spake, by King’s College, Cambridge, conducted by Philip Leger, can be heard on YouTube, here.