LESW25 – One that kept his word: A.E. Housman in songs and letters
April 13, 2025 @ 2:30 PM
Tickets for individual LESW25 events go on sale in early January 2025. Festival passes are currently available – please click here
Discover
the life of A.E. Housman through letters and songs, in a unique programme
devised by Ludlow Song’s Artistic Director Iain Burnside.
Housman’s
collection of poems A Shropshire Lad inspired a torrent of musical
settings, the archetypal English songs of several generations. The poet himself
was a difficult man: a tightly buttoned, unapproachable Classics professor who
refused to suffer fools and disliked music. We unravel some of Housman’s many
complexities, interweaving his letters through some of the magical songs his
poems, contrary to his wishes, inspired.
Three
wonderful singers are joined by actor Alex Jennings (The Queen, The
Lady in the Van) as Housman.
“Burnside’s
vivid narrative is extraordinarily moving.”
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