Song cycle by Benjamin Britten (his opus 31, written 1943) composed for tenor Peter Pears (the composer's partner) and French horn player Dennis Brain. The piece comprises six settings of poems framed by an unaccompanied horn fanfare (scored for natural horn).
The settings are:
- Pastoral, from The Evening Quatrains by Charles Cotton
- Nocturne, The splendour falls on castle walls by Alfred Tennyson from Princess, a medley
- Elegy, O Rose thou art sick by William Blake, from Songs of Experience
- Dirge, This ae night (the Lyke Wake dirge, traditional)
- Hymn, Hymn to Diana by Ben Jonson
- Sonnet - To Sleep, by John Keats