The Lady to Her Guitar is a poem by Emily Brontë (1818-1848) which explores the themes of sadness and memory and how music is a powerful tool in awakening dormant emotions.
In the poem the Lady speaks to the guitar asking how it is possible that its sound has the power to awaken in her feelings which she thought were long since dead - as if the guitar holds magical powers over the laws of nature.
The title of the poem intrigued me and I knew immediately that I wanted to arrange this poem for voice and guitar.
Emily Brontë lived within twenty miles of my own home in Yorkshire and although we are separated in time by over one hundred years this poem draws me closer to her and expresses to me something about the eternal power of music and the evocative sound of the guitar - the instrument above all others that I love so dearly.
