Page "A. E. Housman" Paragraph 37

Among other composers who set Housman songs were John Ireland ( song cycle, Land of Lost Content ), Michael Head ( e. g. ' Ludlow Fair '), Graham Peel ( a famous version of ' In Summertime on Bredon '), Ian Venables ( Songs of Eternity and Sorrow ), and the American Samuel Barber ( e. g. ' With rue my heart is laden ').

Gerald Finzi repeatedly began settings, though never finished any.

Even composers not directly associated with the ' pastoral ' tradition, such as Arnold Bax, Lennox Berkeley and Arthur Bliss, were attracted to Housman's poetry.

A 1976 catalogue listed 400 musical settings of Housman's poems.

Housman's poetry influenced British music in a way comparable to that of Walt Whitman in the music of Delius, Vaughan Williams and others: Housman's works provided song texts, Whitman's the texts for larger choral works.

The contemporary New Zealand composer David Downes includes a setting of " March " on his CD The Rusted Wheel of Things.