Abide With Me

The Woman of Samaria (Op. 44) was a sacred cantata written for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival in 1867. It was written in the style of Medelssohn’s Elijah, which had premiered at the samefestivaltwenty years earlier. The chorus Abide With Me is a setting of the poem by Henry Francis Lyte for SATB choir and Piano accompaniment.

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) wasanEnglish composer, pianist and conductor. He entered the Royal Academy of Music, studying Violin, Piano, and composition. He spent time in Germany with Mendelsohn and Schumann, before becoming Professor of Music at theUniversityof Cambridge and later Principal of the RAM.