Thomas Oliphant (lyricist)
He wrote the chorale for the wedding of the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra,[1][2] as well as the words to "Deck the Hall(s) with Boughs of Holly".
[3][4][5] Thomas was the fifth son of Ebenezer Oliphant, 7th of Condie and Mary, 3rd daughter of Sir William Stirling, Bt.
He became a member of the London Stock Exchange but after a short time left to pursue his interest in music and literature.
[8] Like his more famous cousin, Oliphant was primarily a lyricist, writing his own new words or his own interpretations to his "translations" of existing songs in foreign languages.
Oliphant took part in the Great Handel festival in Westminster Abbey in the chorus as the bass vocalist.
[8] Oliphant wrote the words for the chorale for the wedding of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1863.
Oliphant's position in the music world has diminished to the point where he is largely unknown but in his lifetime his standing was significant.
An illustration of this is a letter in The Musical World dated October 1869, concerning someone else's transgression: "We shall next have the musical knowledge of Hogarth called into question or the profundity of Parry; or the orchestral skill of Hullah; or the madrigalian researches of Oliphant; or the genius of Louis Emmanuel; or the modesty of Eliason....".
As one of his friends and contemporaries put it: "Many a popular drawing-room song of those days bore on its title-page the intimation, ' Words by Thomas Oliphant, Esq.'
Beethoven's "The praise of music" – the English version adapted expressly for the concerts of the Vocal Society by Thomas Oliphant.
[16] Other works by Schubert with the English by Thomas Oliphant: "Let me weep again" "I came when Spring was smiling" "Fast Homeward there rode (the erl king)" "Thine is my Heart" "Forlorn I track the mountains steep (the Wanderer)".
[16] "Sleepest Thou Fair Maiden" "Death Thou Unrelenting Foe" "Behold yon Rose Tree"; "My Pretty Fisher Maiden" "All Unstrung Hangs my Lute" "On Mossy Bank Reclining" "Weary Flowers their Buds are Closing (Serenade)" "The Passing Bell" "Calm as a Child in its Cradle" "Weep not for Friends Departed" "My life is but a Summer Day" "Why Fond Youth such Wild Emotion" "Tis Sweet to Think" "Dear Mother do not Chide Me, (the Echo)" "A Warrior I Am" "Time Likely Hath Flown O'er Me" "Smooth is the Moonlit Sea" "Proudly Our Heads We Lift on High" "Hark The Lark" and "Who is Sylvia?"
Works with music by Friedrich Curschmann, English words by Thomas Oliphant:- "Rest Love The Twilight Is Closing" – A Serenade and "She is Mine", "Thine is my heart" (Dein ist mein Herz), "Arise Bright Golden Star Of Day" – A Song Oliphant wrote the English words for the opera "The Regicide", the music by Pietro Metastasio and authored/set by Charles Lucas "Down in a Flow'ry Vale", a Madrigal for Four Voices – The Words imitated from the Italian by Thomas Oliphant, original by Constantius Festa, "The daughter's gift" (ballad), the poetry written by Thomas Oliphant, the music composed by Jules Benedict.
Music by Carl Maria von Weber "The Mist is rising from hill & dale" ("Thale dampfen" from the opera "Euranthe") English Version by T. Oliphant Esq.
"All ye who Music Love" by Donato Baldassare, English words (which are not a translation) by Thomas Oliphant.
[2] "Where floats the standard" (Die Fahnenwacht) English version by Thomas Oliphant composed by Peter Josef von Lindpaintner "Llewelyn, A Dramatic Cantata" was dedicated to the Prince of Wales.
[4] "Santa Lucia" Neapolitan barcarolle, edited by Mario Favilli, translated by Thomas Oliphant.
Similarly, Oliphant wrote English words for other works by Kalliwoda: "The mill stream is roaring" and " Let me not hear".
"Nymphs are sporting" a cappella R. L. de Pearsall, text by Thomas Oliphant "Dainty fine bird."
The first is a visual record of pencil sketches of landscapes and buildings as he journeyed through Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross-shire, Inverness-shire and Perthshire, 1852.
In a genealogical chart, re-drawn in 1889, are the words: "sed Chartum virginum ex variis documentis antiquis Thomas Oliphant A.D. 1854 collegit:-"[29] 1834 "Comments of a Chorus Singer at the Royal Musical Festival at Westminster Abbey" under the pseudonym Saloman Sackbut.
Publishers Calkin and Budd[30] 1840 "Catches and Rounds by Old Composers" adapted to Modern Words by Thomas Oliphant.
