Solo Vocal Works on

People and Events in
European & American History


 Songs about saints appear on my Songs about Saints page, so are not listed here.
Unless otherwise noted, voice category = unspecified or unknown and accompaniment = piano or unknown.

ANCIENT WORLD

EUROPEAN HISTORY

DARK AGES THROUGH RENAISSANCE


THE TUDORS

  • Bacon, Ernst: The Spanish Armada

  • Brahms, Johannes: Murrays Ermordung (No. 3 from Acht Lieder und Romanzen, Op. 14)

  • Britten, Benjamin: The Bonny Earl o' Moray

  • Beach, Amy: Eilende Wolken, Segler der Lüfte, Op. 18 [alto; orchestra]

  • Carissimi, Giacomo: Lamento e morte de Maria Stuarda [soprano; continuo]

  • Elgar, Edward: Queen Mary's Song (No. 2 of Seven Songs for Voice and Piano)

  • Fiacc, Michéal: Elizabeth I ("I grieve, yet dare not show my discontent"; No. 2 from Six Musical "Portraits") [high voice]

  • Franco, Johan: The Virgin Queen's Dream Monologue [dramatic soprano, orchestra]

  • Giordani, Tommaso: Queen Mary's Lamentation [soprano (orig. sop. castrato); 2 violins, viola, harpsichord]

  • Glinka, Mikhail: Romans iz poèmy "David Richio" (No. 1 from Proschanije S. Peterburgom)

  • Gurney, Ivor: The Bonnie Earl of Murray

  • Korngold, Erich: Alt-Englisch, Op. 38 No. 4

  • Johnson, Edward: Eliza is the fairest Queen

  • Larsen, Libby: Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII [soprano]

  • Purcell, Henry: High on a Throne of Glitt'ring Ore, Z.465

  • Parker, Horatio: Two Songs from Tennyson's "Queen Mary"

  • Raff, Joachim: Maria Stuart, ein Cyklus von Gesängen, Op. 172

  • Schumann, Robert: Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, Op. 135

  • Stanford, Charles Villiers: Drake's Drum (from Songs of the Sea, Op. 91)

  • Stanford, Charles Villiers: Devon, O Devon, in wind and rain (from Songs of the Sea, Op. 91)

  • trad. English (collected by Cecil Sharp): The Death of Queen Jane

  • trad. Scottish: Queen Mary's Escape from Loch-Leven Castle

  • Wagner, Richard: Les Adieux de Marie Stuart

  • Zumsteeg, Johann Rudolf: Maria Stuart

17th AND 18th CENTURIES

  • Bacon, Ernst: After Blenheim

  • Beethoven, Ludwig von: On the massacre of Glencoe, WoO. 152 (No. 5 from 25 Irische Lieder, G. 223) [violin, violoncello, piano]

  • Beethoven, Ludwig von: Charlie is my darling (No. 3 from 12 Songs of Various Nationalities, WoO. 157)

  • Hundley, Richard: Ballad on Queen Anne's Death

  • Lawes, William (attrib.): Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament

  • Loewe, Karl: Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter, Op. 92

  • Loewe, Karl: General Schwerin, Op. 61 No. 2

  • Loewe, Karl: Graf Eberstein, Op. 9, Heft VI, No. 5

  • Loewe, Karl: Fridericus Rex, Op. 61 No. 1

  • Mansel, Thomas: Henry Morgan's March on Panama [medium/low voice]

  • Martin, Frank: Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke [alto, chamber orchestra]

  • Silcher, Friedrich: Prinz Eugenius vor Belgrad (1717)

  • Taylor, Deems: Captain Stratton's Fancy

  • Warlock, Peter: Captain Stratton's Fancy

FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON

  • Beethoven, Ludwig von: The British Light Dragoons, or The Plain of Badajos, WoO. 153 (No. 3 from 20 Irische Lieder, G. 224 no. 3) [voice, piano, violin, cello]

  • Berlioz, Hector: Le Cinq Mai [bass, SSTTBB chorus, orchestra]

  • Cumming, Richard: The Ballad of the Good Lord Nelson (No. 5 from We Happy Few) [low voice]

  • Finzi, Gerald: Rollicum-Rorum (No. 6 from Earth and Air and Rain, Op. 15)

  • Grainger, Percy (arr.): Bold William Taylor

  • Gurney, Ivor: The Night of Trafalgar

  • Haydn, Franz Joseph: Lines from "Battle of the Nile", Hob.XXVIb:4 [soprano]

  • Haydn, Franz Joseph: Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser! (Kaiser-Lied), [piano or orchestra]

  • Jadin, Hyacinthe: Marche du siège de Lille [piano or harp]

  • Joubert, John: Embarcation (No. 1 from South of the Line, Op. 109)

  • Paër, Ferdinando: Marie-Louise au berceau de son fils

  • Schoenberg, Arnold: Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 42. [narrator, string quartet, piano]

  • Schumann, Robert: Die Beiden Grenadiere, Op. 49 No. 1

  • Stanford, Charles Villiers: The "Old Superb" (No. 4 from Songs of the Sea, Op. 91)

  • Steptoe, Roger: Five Rondos for Soprano, Baritone, and Piano [soprano or baritone]

  • Storace, Stephen: Captivity: a ballad supposed to be sung by the unfortunate Marie Antoinette during her imprisonment in the Temple (1793) [soprano]

  • Thomas, David Evan: Byron's Funeral (No. 3 from Heard in a Violent Ward) [baritone]

  • Wagner, Richard: Les Deux Grenadiers, WWV 60

19TH CENTURY

  • Adaskin, Murray: Epitaph

  • Baksa, Robert: Montefiore (No. 4 from A Cynic's Cycle) Bell, William Henry: Men of England

  • Finzi, Gerald: Channel Firing (No. 5 from Before and After Summer, Op. 16)

  • Godfrey, H.H.: When Johnny Canuck comes home

  • Joubert, John: South of the Line, Op. 109

  • Lang, Josephine: Dem Königs-Sohn

  • Loewe, Karl: Zumalacárregui

  • Loewe, Karl: Preussisches Marinelied

  • Parry, Hubert: Jerusalem, Op. 208 [Note: originally with piano; 1922 orchestration by Elgar]

  • Smit, Leo: Channel Firing (No. 5 from Before and After Summer, Op. 16)

  • Thomson, Virgil: And did those feet (No. 5 from Five Songs from William Blake) [medium voice]

  • Warlock, Peter: Mr. Belloc's Fancy

NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY UNTIL WORLD WAR I

  • Birge, Edward Bailey: Concord Hymn

  • Bodlaender, Margarethe: To the Hon. Mr. Henry J. Kaiser, the Greatest Man that Has Ever Lived

  • Bolcom, William: From the Diary of Sally Hemings [mezzo]

  • Burleigh, Harry Thacker: Ethiopia Saluting the Colors

  • Clark, Winfield: Buffalo Bill's Defunct

  • Crawford-Seeger, Ruth: Sacco, Vanzetti (No. 1 from 2 Ricercare)

  • Crawford-Seeger, Ruth: Chinaman, Laundryman (No. 2 from 2 Ricercare)

  • Davidson, Charles: A Letter from George Washington (to synagogue) [medium voice]

  • Dello Joio, Norman: Ballad of Thomas Jefferson

  • Forsyth, Malcolm: Evangeline (cantata) [soprano; trumpet obligato, chamber orchestra (strings, fl, ob, 2 cl, bsn, 2 horn, 1 perc, harp), women's chorus (live or pre-recorded)]

  • Forsyth, Malcolm: Chanson de La Grenouillére (No. 3 from Three Métis Folk Songs from Saskatchewan) [contralto]

  • Hagen, Daron: The Bonnie Blue Flag (No. 1 of Dear Youth) [high voice; flute, piano]

  • Hagen, Daron: I Stop Again (No. 2 of Dear Youth) [high voice; flute, piano]

  • Hagen, Daron: The Boys (No. 3 of Songs of Madness and Sorrow) [tenor; Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Trumpet, Piano, Percussion, Violin (3), Viola, Cello, Contrabass]

  • Harris, Roy: Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight: a Cantata of Lamentation [mezzo; violin, cello, piano]

  • Herold, Rudolph: He fell at his post doing duty

  • Hoiby, Lee: O captain, my captain! (from I Was There)

  • Homer, Sidney: General Booth enters into Heaven, Op. 38

  • Ives, Charles: Lincoln, the Great Commoner [version for solo voice and piano]

  • Ives, Charles: Nov. 2 1920

  • Ives, Charles: General William Booth enters into Heaven

  • Ives, Charles: The Indians

  • Ives, Charles: Thoreau

  • Jordahl, Robert: The Temperance Reform (No. 3 from Three Sentimental Songs) [high voice; violin, piano]

  • Kalmanoff, Martin: George Washington Comes to Dinner [medium voice]

  • Kay, Ulysses: A Lincoln letter [bass, mixed chorus]

  • Milhaud, Darius: Mon histoire (No. 1 from Trois Chansons de Négresse, Op. 148b) [mezzo]

  • Montell, John B.: The Reveille

  • Myers, Gordon: Poor Richard Says... [medium voice; piano, glass harmonica, or harpsichord] Nightingale, Daniel: Shiloh, from War Cries [soprano, guitar]

  • Paulus, Stephen: The Long Shadow of Lincoln (cycle) [bass; piano, cello and violin]

  • Rico, Jason: Concord Hymn [mezzo; piano, horn, clarinet]

  • Rorem, Ned: War Scenes [medium-low voice]

  • Smit, Leo: Thomas Jefferson [baritone]

  • Stanley, J. Aaron: Charge of the Light Brigade [baritone]

  • Still, William Grant: Plain Chant for America [baritone; piano or orchestra]

  • Strassburg, Robert: Prayer of Columbus

  • Weill, Kurt: O captain, my captain! (from Three Walt Whitman Songs) [baritone]

  • Weisgall, Hugo: Shiloh (from Soldier Songs)

  • Wood, Charles: Ethiopia Saluting the Colors [medium or low voice]

  • Zaninelli, Luigi: The Battle for Vicksburg (theatre piece) [soprano and narrator]

1914-1945

  • Argento, Dominick: Hardy's Funeral (January, 1928) (No. 4 from From the Diary of Virginia Woolf) [mezzo]

  • Argento, Dominick: War (June, 1940) (No. 6 from From the Diary of Virginia Woolf) [mezzo]

  • Berg, Christopher: Pearl Harbor (No. 3 from Songs on Poems of Frank O'Hara) [high voice]

  • Berg, Christopher: Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!) (No. 5 from Songs on Poems of Frank O'Hara) [high voice]

  • Britten, Benjamin: The Children (No. 11 from Who are these children?, Op. 84)

  • Eisler, Hanns: Zwölf Lieder aus der Bühnenmusik Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg [two pianos]

  • Finzi, Gerald: August 1914 (No. 2 from Requiem da Camera) [baritone, chorus, orchestra]

  • Ives, Charles: In Flanders' Fields, from Three Songs of the War

  • Kochetov, V.: Vrag ne proïdët! [medium voice]

  • Little, David: Battleship Newsreel (No. 3 from Reality sandwiches)

  • Macmillan, James: The Children (No. 3 from Songs of a just war) [high voice; flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, harp, viola, and violoncello]

  • Milhaud, Darius: Les Soirées de Pétrograde

  • Musto, John: Silhoutte (No. 1 from Shadow of the Blues) [baritone]

  • Myaskovsky, Nikolay: Four Songs for the Arctic Explorers

  • Rico, Jason: Dulce Et Decorum Est

  • Rico, Jason: Anthem for Doomed Youth

  • Rico, Jason: On Seeing a Piece of Our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action

  • Rorem, Ned: A Dead Statesman (No. 17 from Evidence of Things Not Seen)

  • Schulhoff, Ervin: 1917

  • Still, Robert: August [baritone]

  • Turrin, Joseph: In Guernica (No. 2 from Songs of Protest)

  • Weisgall, Hugo: my sweet old etcetera (from Soldier Songs) [baritone]
See also: Vocal Solo Music for Shoah (Holocaust) Remembrance


AFTER WORLD WAR II

  • Bachlund, Gary: Seven Presidential Pardons (2007) [high or medium voice; piano]

  • Blake, David: Rings of Jade [medium voice; orchestra]

  • Fiacc, Michéal: Mother Teresa ("Most holy and unnameable presence"; No. 3 from Six Musical "Portraits") [soprano-tenor duet]

  • Hoiby, Lee: I Have a Dream [baritone, piano]

  • Kabalevsky, Dmitri: Three Songs of Revolutionary Cuba, Op. 73

  • Petrassi, Goffredo: Beatitudines: testimonianza per Martin Luther King [baritone or bass; viola, double bass, clarinet, horn, kettle drum]

  • Thomas, Richard Pearson: Windsor: The Queen Elizabeth Blues (No. 1 from Ladies of their Nights and Days) [mezzo]

  • Thomas, Richard Pearson: Moscow: Comrade Alekseyevna Confesses (No. 8 from Ladies of their Nights and Days) [mezzo]



Quite a bit more can be found, including scores, using the Search or Browse Subjects function at the Library of Congress's online Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music collection.



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