The Banks of the Yellow Sea

"The Banks of the Yellow Sea" is the first song in Ernst Bacon’s cycle Six Songs. Ernst Bacon's setting of Dickinson's poem is a mournful cantilena with a "slow and nostalgic swing." Because of his ability to compose virile, forthright music to accompany, but not overwhelm, Dickinson's delicate, economic poetry, Bacon is considered one of Dickinson's best interpreters. Image: Sunset (California scenery). Published by L. Prang & Co., 1864. Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress.