A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table

The orchestral version was first performed at the Mansion House, London on 7 July 1970, by Janet Baker with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by George Malcolm.

At Walton's request, Christopher Hassall, who had written the libretto for the composer's opera Troilus and Cressida, selected six poems to be set.

[2] Walton orchestrated the cycle in 1970, and this version was first performed on 7 July of that year, by Janet Baker with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by George Malcolm.

The opening stanza is: Let all the Nine Muses lay by their abuses, Their railing and drolling on tricks of the Strand, To pen us a ditty in praise of the City, Their treasure, and pleasure, their pow'r and command.

The critic Stanley Sadie described Walton's setting as "suave and lyrical music, full of Brittenish tonal side-slips".

In this song, Sadie finds the piano version with its "simple monochrome accompaniment" (with a time signature of one minim per bar) preferable to the orchestral.

Kennedy comments on Walton's staccato accompaniment to patter in this song and the contrasting "sustained chords and sheepbells of rural peace".

[2] The original version has been recorded by Heather Harper and Paul Hamburger (L'Oiseau-Lyre); Sarah Walker (Hyperion); and Felicity Lott and Graham Johnson (Naxos).

[3] A live performance at the Last Night of the Proms in 1973 was recorded and released on LP, featuring Elizabeth Bainbridge and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis.

Engraving showing children entering St Paul's Cathedral, illustrating the text: Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,/ The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green:/ Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,/ Till into the high dome of St Paul's they like Thames waters flow./ O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!/ Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own./ The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,/ Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands./ Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,/ Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among;/ Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor:/ Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
William Blake 's illustration of his verse " Holy Thursday ", the fourth song in the cycle