The Lost Chord

Caution! Wide Dynamic Range

Written by Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, in 1877, at the bedside of his brother Fred, just 5 days before he died. The words come from a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter called "A Lost Chord," published in 1858 in The English Woman's Journal.
Sullivan said of the tune: "I have composed much music since then, but have never written a second Lost Chord." Sullivan was knighted in 1883.

Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.

I know not what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then;
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen........