Let Us Garlands Bring is a song cycle for baritone and piano composed by Gerald Finzi between 1929 and 1942, and published as his Op. 18. It consists of five settings of songs from plays by William Shakespeare. It was premiered on 12 October 1942 at a National Gallery lunchtime concert in London. That day was the 70th birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the cycle is dedicated to him. Finzi subsequently arranged the work for baritone and string orchestra.
A typical performance lasts about 15 minutes. The songs, with their sources, are: "Come Away, Come Away, Death" (Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 4) "Who Is Silvia?" (The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Scene 2) "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun" (Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene 2) "O Mistress Mine" (Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 3) "It Was a Lover and His Lass" (As You Like It, Act V, Scene 3)
The title of the cycle is the last line of "Who Is Silvia?".
Recordings 1995: Bryn Terfel, Malcolm Martineau, on The Vagabond, Deutsche Grammophon 2001: Janet Baker, Geoffrey Parsons, on Baker, BBC 2005: Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Sharolyn Kimmorley, on Vagabond, ABC Classics 2005: Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside, on I Said To Love, Naxos 2013: Yves Saelens, Inge Spinette, on Phaedra 2016: Ian Bostridge, Antonio Pappano, on Shakespeare Songs, Warner Classics
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