Commissioned by Altrincham Choral Society using the Florence Matthews Bequest Fund.

Conductor Steven Roberts asked Nigel to write a piece for the Altrincham Choral Society to help celebrate his 25-year association with the choir, and, after looking at several possible texts, they decided on Christopher Marlowe's poem, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, published in 1599 and arguably one of the best-known love poems in the English language.