"Paul Spicer's anthology, successor to the popular English Romantic Partsongs, is a celebration of the partsongs of those twentieth-century composers known as the English pastoralists: Vaughan Williams, Delius, Holst, Ireland, Howells, Finzi, Warlock, and their contemporaries. All of them had an unerring feel for choral sound and texture and an ability to intimately express the subtle imagery of the poetry they set. The collection contains a variety of pieces, from settings of simple beauty to more opulent works that are rich in chromaticism and sonority." "Although some of the pieces in the anthology--Vaughan Williams's Three Shakespeare Songs, Finzi's My spirit sang all day--already enjoy an established reputation, some lesser-known pieces (including Howells's The Scribe, previously unpublished) are also included, and will be a revelation for many choral directors. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.