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INVENTING EDWARD LEAR

BY SARA LODGE

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Lear’s musical travel writing Edward Lear had a quick ear: easily offended and alive to ambient noise, from sparrows chirping, to ‘plate-clashing waiters’ or the roaring of circus lions. When he travelled, which he did constantly, he wrote down notes on the places through which he passed... READ MORE Lear sets Tennyson’s poems Lear published twelve settings of his friend Tennyson’s verse. We know that Lear set many more of Tennyson’s poems, and also that he set works by Shelley and by Swinburne but, with the exception of the basic musical outline of a Shelley setting included here, the music has not survived... READ MORE Lear’s musical influences Lear’s musical influences were many and varied and his own music weaves together strands from multiple sources, including opera, hymn tune, ballad, and comic song... READ MORE Lear’s nonsense songs Lear often refers to his poems as ‘nonsense songs’: he does not distinguish poetry from sung verse. For example, ‘The Quangle Wangle’s Hat’ is ‘an absurd poem or song’. In May 1870 his publisher sent proofs of the ‘Pussey Cat, Kangaroo, and Floppy Fly songs’... READ MORE

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is famous as a nonsense poet and as an artist. He was also, however, a musician and a composer. These pages explore his musical world. You can find here all the songs that Lear published, but also the music that he performed, songs he re-worded, and pieces to which we know he enjoyed listening.

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'The Limerick Man: Lear in Ireland'

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