Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel (1905-1912) sets the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, following the life of a vagabond. At the beginning of the cycle, there is a naive excitement as he sets off to explore the world alone. Hardship is celebrated, as without a home, the entire world becomes his home. He finds a freeing oneness with nature. Yet, by the end of the set the singer has fully grasped the consequences of this lifestyle, the love that he surrendered. Although his own time has now expired, he leaves behind his music to bring lovers together.

​​​​​​​   — Jaden Levine

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Fear a' bhàta, originally from the late 18th century, tells the story of a woman waiting for her lover, “the boatman,” to return from being out at sea, and she is distraught at the thought of losing him. The story does have a happy ending, however, as some sources believe that her boatman did return, and they were married soon after the song was written. While the second and the third verse of this arrangement are from the Scottish oral tradition, the piano accompaniment and the two verses in English for this arrangement come from Helen Hopekirk's book Seventy Scottish Songs, published in 1905. Helen Hopekirk was a piano pedagogist and composer born in 1856 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Though she left Scotland, immigrating to the US in 1897, it can be seen that Scotland and Scottish music stayed with her throughout her life through her compositions and many pedagogical publications advocating for the study of folk music.

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Hush ye, my bairnie, an old lullaby, comes from Lochaber in the Western Scottish Highlands. While there are many different versions of both the tune and the words, in this version the singer is singing a child to sleep, while expressing hope for the small boy to grow up strong to steal many sheep and cattle to help provide for their family. The piano accompaniment for this arrangement written by Helen Hopekirk uses the sound of the celtic harp, helping to put the child to sleep.

Set to an older melody common in Ireland and Scotland, the lyrics to The news frae Moidart cam' yestreen were written by the songwriter and poet Lady Carolina Nairne, a contemporary of Robert Burns. This song falls under the genre of Scottish Jacobite songs, as it holds many references to "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and locations in the Scottish Highlands. The Jacobite Rebellions or Uprisings were a series of unsuccessful Scottish uprisings against English rule during the first half of the 18th century, stirred by religious unrest and change. Though the lyrics to this song were written decades after the last Jacobite Rebellion ended, they hold that same fervent wish for Scottish independence that can be felt in the Hopekirk’s arrangement of the piece.

​​​​​​​   — Brianna Knapp

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At first glance, Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad (1911) may appear like a glorification of war, praising the noble sacrifice of young men. Yet, beneath the surface is a deeply melancholic tone, one that Butterworth’s setting only enhances. This points toward a deeper truth: the singer does not believe these messages, but finds it easier to survive war by ignoring the harsh realities. Housman’s depiction of love is also strained, with an underlying, repressed homosexual identity. This song cycle serves as a haunting foreshadowing of Butterworth’s own premature death at the hands of the Great War.

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​​​​​​​   — Jaden Levine

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​I Wonder as I Wander is an Appalachian folk hymn that seems to have been collected and published by John Jacob Niles around 1934. Due to copyright difficulties, this specific arrangement by the English composer Benjamin Britten, written possibly as early as 1940, was published for the first time in 2001. In this arrangement, the piano and the voice act on different ideas with their own unique characters, though somehow manage to work together.

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Often known by its English title of Be Thou, My Vision, Bí Thusa Mo Shúile is a hymn of Irish origin commonly found in hymn books. While this arrangement is sung in Modern Irish, the original lyrics come from an Old Irish text that may have been written as early as the 6th century. The text is a prayer for protection, asking for guidance in all aspects of life. In the early 1900s, this text was translated and versified into English lyrics, which were then set to an Irish melody commonly known as Slane, creating the hymn Be Thou, My Vision. This arrangement seeks to honor the hymn's Irish origins by utilizing the musical language of modern Irish music, and incorporating elements of the Irish traditional sean-nós style of singing.

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​​​​​​​   — Brianna Knapp

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Liza Lehmann (1862-1918) was the daughter of artists and one of the most prominent female song composers of her time, as well as being an accomplished singer and pianist. She wrote over 350 songs and Evensong was published in the latter half of 1916, in the middle of the first World War. With this context the lyrics can be interpreted as a prayer amidst the carnage of war, and there was a personal context for the composer as well. Earlier in 1916, Lehmann’s son Rudolf died while training at the Royal Military Academy. The poem tells of a nightingale – a symbol of men’s immortality – and the music reflects this idea with a dissonant tune. I now see this text setting in two different lights: a mother praying for her son’s comfort, and a mother praying through her personal grief.

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​​​​​​​   — Shannon Dunning