The drummer boy of Waterloo

Dramatic, melancholic Military Lament in a Neo-Victorian Folk style played by a traditional 9-piece Bohemian brass band (Egerländer style), recorded in a warm early 20th century acoustic space, with clarinets, flugelhorn, trumpet, tenor horn, trombone, baritone, tuba, and light snare drum, Rustic phrasing, pastoral tempo, gentle polyphony, The tempo is a solemn Funeral March (Adagio, 90 BPM), The entire piece is dominated by a slow, deep-sounding military drum rhythm that carries through the verses, A delicate, mournful clarinet provides high-register accents, Vocals: Male lead vocal (Baritone or Tenor), delivered with clear, highly emotional, and narrative projection, The final verse should transition into an atmospheric, choral lament with wide reverb, fading out slowly to the final, lingering drum beat, Mood: Deeply sorrowful, ceremonial, and tragically heroic, focusing on sacrifice and the inevitable march of fate

Lyrics found in "Folk-songs of the South" by John Harrington Cox (1925) --- When battle roused each warlike band, And carnage loud her trumpet blew, Young Edwin left his native land, A drummer boy for Waterloo. His mother, when his lips she pressed And bade her noble boy adieu With wringing hands and aching heart, Beheld him marching for Waterloo. He took his drum upon his arm, His knapsack o'er his shoulder threw, And cried, "Dear mother, dry those tears, Till I return from Waterloo. " But ere before the set of sun, The march began, the foe subdued, The flash of death, the murderous gun, Had laid him low at Waterloo. "0 comrades, comrades!" Edwin cried, While proudly beamed his eye of blue, "Go tell my mother Edwin died A soldier's death at Waterloo." They laid his head upon his drum Beneath the moonlight's mournful hue; The night has stilled the battle drum; They dug his grave at Waterloo.

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