Was it some Golden Star? is a poem written by
Gilbert Parker, published in Volume I of a series of poems called Embers. It was set to music by the English composer
Edward Elgar in 1910, as his Op. 59, No. 5.
The Opus 59 songs were part of a song-cycle of six romantic songs by Parker that was never completed – strangely Nos 1, 2 and 4 were never composed. The other songs were Oh, soft was the song and Twilight. The songs were originally written with piano accompaniment, but this was later re-scored by the composer for full orchestra.
The songs were composed between December 1909 and January 1910, and published by Novello's in 1910. The first performance was by
Muriel Foster at the Jaeger Memorial Concert[1] in the
Queen's Hall on 24 January 1910.
^Elgar's friend August Jaeger died on 18 May 1909, and the music for the funeral was provided by Dr.
Walford Davies. The organisation of a Memorial Concert took time, and that concert was not until eight months later.