This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
Eldorado
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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Eldorado by Ciro Pinsuti — Lyrics
What ho! ye graybeard mariners,
Now whither do ye sail?
Your hearts are light, the skies are bright,
And cheerly blows the gale.
“The world is wide,” they laughing said,
“The merry world is free;
We’re bound for Eldorado,
Across the golden sea!”
Thou pale and lonely maiden,
Upon the ocean strand,
Whom seekest thou with patient brow?
Why wavest thou thy hand?
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About Eldorado
Ciro Pinsuti’s setting of Edgar Allan Poe’s Eldorado is a vivid SATB part-song for mixed choir. The text contrasts two groups of travellers. The first are ‘graybeard mariners’ filled with optimism, setting sail for the mythical land of Eldorado. The second is a lonely maiden, still waiting for a lover lost at sea years ago. The music, in English, captures the contrasting moods of hope and melancholy, the mariners’ confident journey and the maiden’s patient sorrow. It is a dramatic and evocative exploration of a legendary quest and its potentially deceptive allure, ending with a stark warning to the mariners not to trust the tempting gleam of their imagined destination.
