"Come, Gentle Night!" is a poem by Clifton Bingham set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...

 in 1901.

It is a song for soprano voice, the title page advertising that it was sung by Madame Clara Butt

Clara Butt

Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...

.

The song was written at the same time as Elgar's Cockaigne

Cockaigne (In London Town)

Cockaigne , Op. 40, also known as the Cockaigne Overture, is a concert overture for full orchestra composed by the British composer Edward Elgar in 1900-01.-History:...

, and published in 1901 by Boosey & Co. in London and New York.

In his book on Elgar, Thomas Dunhill

Thomas Dunhill

Thomas Frederick Dunhill was an English composer and writer on musical subjects. He is best-known for his song-cycle The Wind among the Reeds.-Life and career:Thomas Dunhill was born in Hampstead, London...

 criticised this and others of his songs, finding it "...almost unbelievable that a composer of such power and distinction should have been willing to attach his name to productions like After

After (Elgar)

”After” is a song written by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1895, as his Op.31, No.1, with the words from a poem by Philip Bourke Marston.The manuscript is dated 21 June 1895....

, The Pipes of Pan

The Pipes of Pan

"The Pipes of Pan" is a poem by Adrian Ross set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar, being completed on 5 June 1899.The song was published by Boosey in 1900. Early editions of the vocal score are inscribed 'Sung by Mr...

, Come, Gentle Night! and Pleading

Pleading (Elgar)

"Pleading" is a poem written by Arthur L. Salmon, and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1908, as his Op.48.This is one of the most popular of Elgar's songs. Elgar had returned home at the end of September 1908, feeling depressed after taking the score of his first Symphony to the...

".. Dunhill considered some "...scarcely distinguishable from pot-boilers turned out by baser English composers in the days of ballad concerts."

Lyrics

Come, gentle night!

Upon our eye-lids lay thy fingers light ;

For we are tired, and fain aside would lay

The cares and burdens that surround the day.

Come, peaceful night!

Thy courier-stars already glitter bright ;

And we who labour, both unblest and blest,

Are weary of our work, and long for rest.

Come, holy night!

Long is the day and ceaseless is the fight;

Around us bid thy quiet shadows creep,

And rock us in thy sombre arms to sleep!

Recordings

• Songs and Piano Music by Edward Elgar has "Come, gentle night!" performed by Amanda Pitt (soprano), with David Owen Norris (piano).

• Elgar: Complete Songs for Voice & Piano performed by Konrad Jarnot
  Konrad Jarnot
  Konrad Jarnot is an English baritone who works in opera and oratorio and is a notable performer of Lieder. He is a teacher at the Robert Schumann Hochschule.-Early life:...
  
  (baritone), with Reinild Mees (piano)