I have always believed in magic and have loved tales of mystical beings ever since my beloved Scottish nanny introduced me to a world of wonder when I was little.

I have been gathering this collection of fairy songs together for a while now and I am grateful for the inspiration of Katsuyo Watanabe who introduced me to the Fairy Museum in Japan a few years ago. The harp was the perfect choice to accompany these songs and Danielle has skilfully adapted the piano accompaniments for her instrument. I have chosen to use settings of poetry by late 19th and 20th Century composers. Some of these were no doubt inspired by the pre-Raphaelite movement of Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti as was Stanford in his setting of John Keats’ La Belle Dame sans Merci.

Charlotte de Rothschild