As the verse of the second poem from this cycle goes, "One would say
that the earth is the way of the flesh, that the sea is the way of the soul." This poetic connection of a human soul to the sea inspired me to compose a song cycle for soprano and piano, based on three poems by three different Spanish poets, living in different epochs.
In each poem an emotional state of a heroine is reflected through the imagery of the sea. In the first poem, “Let me walk along where breaks the sea,” by Luis de Góngora (1561-1627), a desperate girl tries to find comfort in walking by the sea, after being left by her beloved. The second poem, “Dream Nocturne,” by Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958) is a reflection on the thoughts of death, where the sea shows a soul the way to heaven, leaving all earthly suffering behind.
The third poem, “Great waves, crashing on desert shores” (from “Rhymes” by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, (1836-1870)) is an ultimate statement of despair: the poet asks the waves to carry him away from his misery.
This song cycle was commissioned by the First London Song Festival, where it received its premiere.

Sea: the Soul of Spain: Text
The original poems were published in Turnbull, Eleanor L., trans. Ten Centuries of Spanish Poetry: An Anthology in English Verse with Original Texts, from the 11th Century to the Generation of 1898. pp. 179, 369, 437. © 1955 The Johns Hopkins University Press. Reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press. The texts as they appear below were edited by the composer.

As the verse of the second poem from this cycle goes, "One would say
that the earth is the way of the flesh, that the sea is the way of the soul." This poetic connection of a human soul to the