A tragic story

William Thackeray’s splendid nonsense poem A Tragic Story about a wise old sage who can’t locate his pony tail, is here set to music by Benjamin Britten. Britten brings out all the humour, and the tempo notches up, while the wise old sage gets more and more frustrated by his search!

Licensed content

Downloads

Accessible resources

  • This content is blocked

    Please enable cookies to view

Register (it’s quick and free) or sign in to access sheet music, MP3s, worksheets, exercises and Charanga resources.

If you created your account before September 2023, please reset your password by clicking ‘Sign in’, then ‘Forgotten password’, for access to our new website.

Buy the full score

This song is available for purchase from Boosey & Hawkes as part of a collection of 13 songs for unison treble voices and piano, written between 1933 and 1934.

Buy now

Resources

  1. Breathing and Airflow

  2. Performance Skills

  3. Dynamics

  4. Diction: Vowels

  5. Tempo, Pulse, Counting

  6. High Range

  7. black and white image of young man with short hair playing the piano and looking intensely at the camera

    Britten's Early Works

  8. Britten's Impact

  9. Britten's Childhood

  10. Britten's Music for Children

  11. Composing and Exploring - A Tragic Story

Credits

Music by:
Benjamin Britten
Text by:
Thackeray

Performance track

Singers:
New London Children’s Choir
Conductor:
Ronald Corp
Accompanist:
Alexander Wells
Licensed by:
kind permission of Naxos

Song Details

Genre:
Classical
Tempo:
Starts slowly but gets very fast
Time Signature:
2/2
Key Signature:
D Minor/G Minor
Tonality:
Minor
Range:
D4- F5
Piano Supporting Melody:
Occasionally