Der Pilgrim vor St Just (1844) comes from a set of four ballads about the Spanish King Charles V, whose retirement to the monastery of St Just (he had his own palace built in the grounds) was not quite as ascetically self-denying as legend has it. The monastery bell tolls gloomily throughout in the left hand, while the right hand intones an austere chant in counterpoint with the voice.
from notes by Richard Wigmore © 2011
