But anybody who quotes a dictionary definition should be aware of the various elements involved. The Oxford English Dictionary gives no fewer than nine definitions of 'sentiment' including the following: "(a) a mawkish tenderness: (b) the display of this."
I would defy anybody to claim that Allingham's verses employed in Stanford's setting are anything other than 'sentimental' in this sense. The twee use of vocubulary reeks of an author looking over the shoulder of parents reading the poems to their children, with the smug conspiratorial expression of a complicit sense of self-satisfied cuteness. I stand by every word of my description.
This is quite distinct from, for example, 'noble sentiments' which are clearly praiseworthy provided they are not hypocritical. The context is everything.
It may even be that Stanford's contemporaries might have agreed. Although "Fairy Day" was commissioned by a conductor from the composer, it doesn't appear that he ever actually performed the pieces which remained unheard until some ten years ago. Which is a pity because, as I said in my original review, some of the music is good despite the texts.
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