The Lost Chord

"The Lost Chord" is a song set in 1877 by Arthur Sullivan to a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter called "A Lost Chord", published in 1860 in The English Woman's Journal. Sullivan composed the song at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness in Fulham, West London, England. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later. The song was immediately successful and became particularly associated with American contralto Antoinette Sterling, with Sullivan's close friend and mistress, Fanny Ronalds, and with British contralto Clara Butt. Sullivan was proud of the song and later noted: "I have composed much music since then, but have never written a second Lost Chord." Many singers have recorded the song, including Enrico Caruso, who sang it at the Metropolitan Opera House on 29 April 1912 at a benefit concert for families of victims of the Titanic disaster. The piece has endured as one of Sullivan's best-known songs, and the setting is still performed today.