An Excellent Year': Society

RVW
No.29 Feb 2004 Revised 2/2/04 11:53 Page 1
No.29 February 2004

Journal of the
EDITORS
Guest Editor for this
edition: John Bawden
Stephen Connock
(see address below)
S o c i e t y
‘AN EXCELLENT YEAR’ In this issue...
Members of the RVW Society heard much good news at our AGM on Sunday 12 October. As John RVW Hymn Tunes
Vaughan Williams and the
Francis, Treasurer, put it: ‘Once again the Society has had an excellent year – with members’
Hymnals – a new perspective

●
subscriptions and sales of books at record levels’. John was also cautious about the future – it was
by John Bawden
a novelty to have built up some reserves but we could not relax too much. We were publishing two
new books and hoped to sponsor recordings in due course. Having said that, John Francis
Page . . . 2
concluded by confirming that our financial position was healthy.
Success in the year

Stephen Connock had opened the AGM by reporting on notable successes for the Society during the
Two obscure Hymn Tunes of
Ralph Vaughan Williams
●
year, including the two-day conference jointly organised with the Elgar Society called A Special
by John Barr
Flame. With the launch in October of The Poisoned Kiss, the Society had also stimulated a world
premiere recording of a quite beautiful work. Members who have not heard this wonderful set
Page . . . 14
should hesitate no longer!
Hymn Tune Descants

by Clark Kimberling
●
Page . . . 17
and more . . .
CHAIRMAN
Stephen Connock MBE
65 Marathon House
200 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5PL
Tel: 01728 454820
Fax: 01728 454873
cynthia.cooper@dial.pipex.com
With both There was a time and a new edition of Ursula Vaughan Williams’s poetry being published,
TREASURER
the Society continues to launch new projects to support our charitable goals. Long may it continue! John Francis
Lindeyer Francis Ferguson
North House
Membership growth 198 High Street
David Betts, our Membership Secretary, confirmed that membership continues to grow and we now Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BE
had 608 members – an increase of 47 over last year. We need more! Members were urged – as Tel: 01732 360200
always – to help stimulate membership by approaching their contacts. Regional activities will grow john@lffuk.com
in importance for our members worldwide.
SECRETARY
Then let us be merry, cast sorrow aside Dr. David Betts
As we approach our 10th anniversary in 2004, we have reasons to be proud. We have an excellent Tudor Cottage
group of Trustees – to which we extend a welcome to Emma Marshall and Martin Murray who were 30 Tivoli Road
elected at the AGM – as well as Regional Chairmen. Our members provide superb support to the Brighton
Society in general and to the Journal in particular. Hopefully our 10th anniversary will be an East Sussex
opportunity for consolidation and celebration. BN1 5BH
Tel: 01273 501118
davidbetts@tudorcottage.plus.com
Date of next AGM : Sunday 10 October 2004.
www.rvwsociety.com Charity No. 1017175
Vaughan Williams and the Hymnals - a new perspective

by John Bawden
Part 1: A survey
It is now nearly fifty years since Vaughan Williams died, yet the extent Sources: i) Michael Kennedy: The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams;
and significance of his work on hymnals – and I shall use the word ii) Music Department, Oxford University Press
‘hymnal’ throughout to refer to carol books as well as hymn-books - has
still not been fully recognised. While the composer's use of folk song as Note: Successive hymnals reproduced existing material from
a basic element of a new national English music has been well preceding volumes, therefore only the additional new tunes and
documented, his work on hymnals has received comparatively little arrangements written by Vaughan Williams are indicated here.
attention. It is my contention that, despite his lifelong agnosticism, All of the books contained significant numbers of his tunes.
Vaughan Williams dedicated significant amounts of his time to the
editing of a succession of hymnals because they offered an ideal means Vaughan Williams’ decision to edit the music of a series of major
of propagating his concept of a national music through one of the nation’s hymnals not only signified his long-term commitment to improving the
most influential cultural institutions, and because he recognised their music of what he considered to be a vital part of the English musical
unique importance as a music of the people. His motivation was therefore heritage; it also presented him with an opportunity to develop his concept
primarily cultural and social rather than religious. Furthermore, his of a national music within the context of the hymnal. His vision was of a
continuing identification with a succession of major hymnals contributed music that would be ‘the expression of the soul of the nation...a people
significantly towards the projection of his own image as a national spiritually bound together by language, environment, history, and
composer. common ideals and, above all, a continuity with the past’. 2
Having produced the ground-breaking English Hymnal, VW might well

When in 1904 Vaughan Williams
have been expected to decline other approaches from Percy Dearmer or
accepted the Reverend Percy Dearmer’s
The Oxford University Press in order to be able to continue working
invitation to edit the music of The English
without further interruption on his own compositions. After all, Martin
Hymnal he evidently had considerable
and Geoffrey Shaw, two very able and influential musicians and
doubts about the wisdom of taking on
educators who were both colleagues of Dearmer, were available. Martin
such a task, with the consequent
was invited to be joint Music Editor of Songs of Praise, The Oxford Book
suspension of his own composition for
of Carols and Songs of Praise Enlarged, and both brothers made major
the two whole years that would be needed
contributions to the two versions of Songs of Praise. Therefore it must
in order to do the job properly. He later
have been a conscious choice on Vaughan Williams’ part to continue
remarked ‘I wondered then if I was
taking on the responsibility of working on the hymnals himself, despite
wasting my time. But I know now that two years of close association with
the priorities of his own composition. He evidently considered the work
some of the best (as well as some of the worst) tunes in the world was a
to be unfinished business, and that the role of the hymnal in assisting in
better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues.’ 1
his mission to establish a national music had not come to an end with the
publication of The English Hymnal.
The Hymnals
The major publications of which Vaughan Williams was either music This is borne out by the developing nature of the hymnal work, as I shall
editor or joint music editor were The English Hymnal (1906), Songs of show. It was not simply a question of ‘more of the same’. The English
Praise (1925), The Oxford Book of Carols (1928) and Songs of Praise Hymnal laid the firm foundations of Vaughan Williams cultural
Enlarged (1931). In addition to these four principal volumes there were nationalism, Songs of Praise was more overtly nationalist in its contents
some ten lesser collections that were mainly derived from one or other of and The Oxford Book of Carols brought the principles and disciplines of
the parent volumes. Between 1906 and 1954 he wrote some twenty both books to bear upon the neglected carol repertoire. Songs of Praise
original hymn tunes and arranged nearly one hundred and eighty others, Enlarged went even further in its wholehearted espousal of an
as well as undertaking the considerable task of selecting and editing other unashamedly English content.
tunes from the vast number available. The two main periods of his
hymnal editing were from 1904 (when he began work on EH) to 1911, The literature
and from 1925 to 1936. In varying degrees of intensity, then, the work on Surprisingly, none of the existing literature on the composer addresses
hymnals was spread over a total of eighteen years (see Table 1). the full extent and significance of this hymn-related work. It seems either
to be ignored by most commentators, or, at best, viewed as little more
Table 1: Hymnals of which Vaughan Williams was music Editor than a series of isolated, minor episodes punctuating the main events of
Year Title Editors Vaughan Williams’ new tunes and arrangements
his life. Any attention that is given to VW’s hymnal work is almost
1906 The English Hymnal Percy Dearmer; RVW 4 new tunes, 64 new arrangements exclusively confined to The English Hymnal, and even then very largely
1907 The English Hymnal (abridged Percy Dearmer; RVW None
edition)
in the sole context of its inter-relationship with his folksong collecting.
1911 Church Songs S. Baring-Gould; None
H. Fleetwood Sheppard; RVW
1925 Songs of Praise Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 5 new tunes, 20 new arrangements The early biographical studies written during the composer’s lifetime -.
Shaw
1928 The Oxford Book of Carols Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 4 new tunes, 23 new arrangements Hubert Foss (1950), Percy Young (1953), Frank Howes (1954) and
Shaw
1929 Songs of Praise for Boys & Girls Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 1 new tune, 6 new arrangements Simona Pakenham (1957) – make no more than a passing reference to the
Shaw
1930 Hymns for Sunday School Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None hymnals. Although A.E.F.Dickinson’s 1963 study contains a whole
Anniversaries and other special RVW; Martin Shaw
occasions
chapter devoted to Hymnody, mostly given over to The English Hymnal,
1931 Songs of Praise Enlarged Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 5 new tunes, 8 new arrangements with a page or two on Songs of Praise and a paragraph on The Oxford
Shaw
1932 Songs of Praise for Little Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None Book of Carols, it is largely a survey of Vaughan Williams’ sources, his
Children RVW; Martin Shaw
original tunes and arrangements, with an appraisal of the appropriateness
1933 The English Hymnal revised Percy Dearmer; RVW 8 new arrangements, and many arrangements
imported from SP of some of the pairings of tunes and words.
1933 Songs of Praise for Children Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin None
Shaw
1936 The Daily Service Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None
RVW; Martin Shaw
The books devoted specifically to hymnody acknowledge Vaughan
1936 Songs of Praise: The Children’s Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None Williams’ major contribution to twentieth century hymnody, as in the
Church RVW; Martin Shaw
1954 English Traditional Carols RVW; Martin Shaw 21 carols from OBC newly arranged for sopranos and
following comment by Erik Routley:
altos in 2,3 & 4 parts
Page 2 Journal of the RVW Society

“None of us [hymnologists and hymnal editors] can now claim traditional English hymnody not merely because he sought to
to be free of some debt to the great work of Vaughan Williams.”3 liberate English music from a stultifying central-European
influence, but also because he was actively engaged in
But more extensive discussion is outside their scope. In his definitive constructing and refining an English national identity. ...In
study, The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Michael Kennedy devotes these terms, his “nationalism” was fundamentally social and
twelve pages to The English Hymnal, which is a clear indication that he cultural in inspiration, and his compositional interest in
is prepared to treat VW’s work on this hymnal with much greater identifiably English musical genres and styles but one aspect of
seriousness than previous commentators. He provides concise but a dedication to “Englishness” that was fundamentally political
thorough background information, and the folksong sources are carefully in orientation. 8
documented. He also gives the reader some indication of Vaughan
Williams’ editorial policy by listing the musical sources and giving Duncan Hinnells’ thesis, ‘The Making of a National Composer: Vaughan
details of the folksongs that he adapted. He mentions the importance that Williams, OUP and the BBC’ is the first writing to draw attention to the
Vaughan Williams ascribed to the congregation’s role vis à vis the hymn, many lesser hymnals with which Vaughan Williams was involved. He
and quotes the composer’s revealing statement that the choice of music also identifies the contribution that the hymn-books made towards
for the new hymnal was ‘a moral rather than a musical issue’. 4 The establishing Vaughan Williams’s musical reputation:
principal hymn-tunes to which Vaughan Williams later made thematic
reference in some of his major compositions 5 are discussed briefly at the Vaughan Williams was undoubtedly known by generations
end of the section. Kennedy draws attention to the importance of brought up in this period [i.e. throughout and after the inter-war
folksong in Vaughan Williams’ editorial policy and relates it to the wider years] as a composer with strong affiliations with the
national musical scene. established church, with folk song, ancient English music, and
with the revivalist movement. 9
Kennedy’s seminal work therefore marks a distinct advance in awareness
of Vaughan Williams’s work on hymnals. What it does not do, however, Onderdonk’s ‘Hymn tunes from folk songs: Vaughan Williams and
is investigate further the radical nature of Vaughan Williams’s editorial English Hymnody’ again discusses the incorporation of national elements
policy, or explain why he chose repeatedly to return to the hymn. Neither into the music of the hymnals, with particular emphasis on folksongs.
does Kennedy identify the true extent of this work. Songs of Praise Like Hinnells, he also recognises the minor hymn-books, but further
receives a brief mention and The Oxford Book of Carols an even briefer investigation is beyond the scope of his paper.
one. Songs of Praise Enlarged is merely cited in passing. Apart from their
inclusion in his comprehensive list of VW’s works, there is no mention in Collectively, all of these writings provide new and valuable perspectives
the text of the other hymnals with which Vaughan Williams was involved. on many of the questions surrounding Vaughan Williams’s work on
hymnals. However, none of the literature fully addresses the underlying
In untangling some of the complex issues surrounding the composer’s question of why, in seeming contradiction to his religious position,
national image, Alain Frogley says: Vaughan Williams chose repeatedly to engage with hymns as editor,
composer or arranger. Neither does it recognise the true extent of this
At its simplest level, Vaughan Williams’s reputation as a area of his work, though Onderdonk and Hinnells go some way towards
nationalist composer is based on four overlapping elements: his doing so. Otherwise the four major hymnals are very largely regarded as
published writings arguing the importance of national roots for discrete projects, whilst the ten lesser hymn-books do not figure at all.
musical styles; work as a collector, arranger and editor of
native folksongs and hymn-tunes; educational and
administrative activity as a teacher, competition adjudicator
etc.; and the manifold influence on his music of a variety of
English musical, literary, and other kinds of sources, above all
folksong, Tudor and Jacobean music, and the English literature
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most notably the Songs of Praise
King James Bible and Shakespeare.6
for
Frogley’s linking of the hymns and folksongs together as if they are
inseparable parts of the same process is, however, misleading. Whilst his
statement duly recognises the inter-connectivity between the two
Boys and Girls
activities, at the same time it excludes other equally important
characteristics of Vaughan Williams’s nationalist exploitation of the A Hymn-book for Children
hymnal that were completely independent of the folksong. This and Others
conflation of two distinct yet inter-related musical genres is a feature
common to the writings of most commentators, and may well go some
way towards accounting for the neglect of the hymn as a music in its own By
right.
Percy Dearmer
In his essay in Vaughan Williams Studies,7 Byron Adams identifies the
lifelong admiration and love which Vaughan Williams had for the liturgy R. Vaughan Williams
and musical traditions of the Church of England, a vital element in
understanding the composer’s creative thinking. Martin Shaw
Julian Onderdonk’s ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Folksong Collecting’

gives an extensive documentation of the composer’s distinguished family
background and its radicalism, providing the most thorough insight yet
into the formation of Vaughan Williams’s religious, artistic and political
philosophy. And in his introduction to the third chapter Onderdonk Oxford University Press
succinctly sets out what he sees as the nature of Vaughan Williams’s London: Humphrey Milford
“nationalism”:
He was attracted to English folksong, Tudor and Jacobean

music, 18th and early 19th century Ballad Opera, and
Journal of the RVW Society Page 3

Such a unique and extensive body of work deserves much closer attention Table 2: Minor Works Based Directly or Indirectly on Hymns
than it has hitherto attracted. The question therefore arises as to why this YEAR WORK NOTES
1894 VEXILLA REGIS - hymn for soprano solo, chorus, strings, organ
facet of the composer’s activities has not been investigated more fully. It 1912 FANTASIA ON CHRISTMAS CAROLS - baritone solo, chorus, orch contains 4 main carols and fragments of others
EVENING HYMN Purcell, arranged by VW
is only in the last ten years or so that one or two musicologists have AND ALL IN THE MORNING - carol arr. for chorus & small orch
started to look more closely at the hymn. Otherwise, examination of his THE OLD HUNDREDTH - organ for a volume of varied organ accompaniments
to A&M tunes
hymnal editing has very largely been confined to his work on The English 1914 FOUR HYMNS - tenor solo, viola obbligato & piano Original composition with texts by Jeremy
Taylor, Isaac Watts, Richard Crashaw &
Hymnal, in which it has been considered primarily within the context of Robert Bridges
1919 EIGHT TRADITIONAL ENGLISH CAROLS - arranged for voice &
his folksong collecting, so that, for example, Kennedy wrote of it in the piano / unaccompanied chorus
1920 THREE PRELUDES FOUNDED ON WELSH HYMN-TUNES - organ
following terms: TWELVE TRADITIONAL CAROLS FROM HEREFORDSHIRE -
arrangement for voice & piano
1921 LORD, THOU HAST BEEN OUR REFUGE - motet for chorus & orch incorporates the hymn-tune
‘O God, our help in ages past’
[Hymnal editing] was, in fact, by coming as a tributary from, FOR ALL THE SAINTS (‘Sine Nomine’) - arrangement for unison
and corollary to, his folksong collecting, another ‘liberating’ singing / mixed chorus; also other versions
1929 THE HUNDREDTH PSALM - chorus & orchestra text from Psalm 100 and Daye’s Psalter
nfluence. 10 (1561)
THREE CHORAL HYMNS - baritone solo, chorus & orchestra
1930 HYMN TUNE PRELUDE ON ‘SONG 13’ BY ORLANDO GIBBONS - tune from EH
piano
This limited perspective on the function and importance of the hymn in 1932 CHORALE PRELUDE ‘ACH, BLEIB BEI UNS, HERR JESU CHRIST’
(J. S. Bach) - freely arranged for piano
Vaughan Williams’s work arises partly out of the general concentration 1934 THE PILGRIM PAVEMENT - hymn for soprano solo, chorus & organ
1935 MY SOUL PRAISE THE LORD - hymn arranged for chorus & unison
singing with descant, & organ
on The English Hymnal, with the consequent marginalisation of the later
books that he edited, and partly from the major part played by the LITTLE CLOISTER - hymn tune for voices in unison & organ new tune by VW not incorporated into any
hymnal
folksong arrangements. To some extent this is not surprising. After all, 1936 TWO HYMN-TUNE PRELUDES - small orchestra based on tunes by Monk and Dykes
1938 ALL HAIL THE POWER – arr. for congregation, choir & orchestra based on the hymn-tune ‘Miles Lane’ by W.
EH was the pioneering work, and the folksong arrangements were its Shrubsole,
1939 A HYMN OF FREEDOM - unison voices & piano / organ words by Canon G. W. Briggs
most radical feature. As a result, however, undue emphasis has been 1940 HOUSEHOLD MUSIC: 3 PRELUDES ON WELSH HYMN-TUNES -
string quartet and horn ad. lib.
placed on The English Hymnal and the importance of the composer’s 1941 A CALL TO THE FREE NATIONS - hymn for choral or unison singing words by Canon G. W. Briggs
1942 THE AIRMAN’S HYMN - unison song with piano / organ
NINE CAROLS FOR MALE VOICES - arranged for unaccompanied
folksong collecting, at the expense of other editorial procedures and of
men’s chorus
the later hymnals. 1945 TWO CAROLS - arranged for unaccompanied chorus arrangements of traditional melodies
1948 HYMN FOR ST MARGARET - unison appears in Hymnal for Scotland
1949 FANTASIA ON THE ‘OLD 104TH’ PSALM TUNE - piano solo, chorus
The nature of the changes that Vaughan Williams introduced into The & orchestra
1952 PRELUDE ON AN OLD CAROL TUNE - small orchestra the tune is ‘On Christmas night the joy-bells
English Hymnal, which I shall deal with in some detail in a moment, ring’
1953 THE ‘OLD 100TH’ PSALM TUNE - arranged for chorus, congregation, the tune is ‘All people that on earth do dwell’
figure prominently in this process. The folksong arrangements formed a orchestra and organ
1955 PRELUDE ON 3 WELSH HYMN-TUNES - brass band the tunes are not the same as for the organ
homogenous group that constituted the largest and most immediately preludes of 1920
1956 GOD BLESS THE MASTER OF THIS HOUSE – unaccomp. chorus from the Sussex mummers’ carol
1958 THE FIRST NOWELL - Nativity play for soloists, chorus & orchestra includes 12 carols
recognisable body of music, and their inclusion within the Anglican
hymn-book was arguably the boldest of his reforms. The two other
principal developments - the importance placed on Tudor and Restoration Furthermore, phrases from several of the most memorable hymns found
sources and the rejection of 19th century music - represented a their way into his major works (an area of study which is surely overdue
fundamental shift in direction, but were substantial modifications, not for systematic research). In fact, it is no exaggeration to suggest that the
novel introductions as the folksong arrangements were. The Tudor and music of the hymn-book runs like an ever-present stream through
Restoration music did not fall nearly so easily into a recognisable group, Vaughan Williams’s creative life.
and the 19th century music was important for what was omitted rather
than what was included. Thus the folksong arrangements became the
most visible and identifiable agent of the hymnal revolution. Notes
Consequently they were almost bound to dominate early examinations of
The English Hymnal. A further reason for the folksong collecting and 1 RVW: ‘A Musical Autobiography’, quoted in Kennedy Works, p.74
hymnal editing being so firmly connected in most people’s minds is the 2 RVW: ‘Some conclusions’, p.68
concurrency of the two activities. Vaughan Williams began collecting 3 Routley: The Music of Christian Hymnody, p.145
folksongs in 1903, and by 1913 had collected some 800 of them. The 4 Kennedy: The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, p.67
preparation of The English Hymnal occupied him for two years, from 5 In this connection Kennedy cites MONK’S GATE, DIVES AND LAZARUS, YORK,
1904 until 1906. OLD HUNDREDTH and Tallis’s Third Mode Melody.
6 Frogley, p.5
By the 1950s Vaughan Williams had become for many people the 7 See particularly Adams pp.99-100
personification of English music. In the course of his exceptionally long 8 Onderdonk: ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Folksong Collecting’, p.140
creative life he not only edited several major hymnals, he also regularly 9 Hinnells, p.46
turned to the music of the hymn-book as the basis for an arrangement or 10 Kennedy: Works, p.74
a short work, of which there are a surprisingly large number spread 11 See Ursula Vaughan Williams: RVW, p.66.
throughout his working life (see Table 2).
Part 2: Editing the hymnals

by John Bawden
Background to the emergence of The English Hymnal Amongst the most prominent of A&M’s critics was the Reverend Percy
The great blossoming of English hymnody that took place in the Dearmer, Vicar of St. Mary’s, Primrose Hill. He and a group of friends
eighteenth century, inspired principally by the poetic genius of Isaac had already started meeting together with the intention of producing a
Watts (1674-1748) and Charles Wesley (1707-1788), led to the enormous words-only supplement to A&M, to be called English Hymns. However,
popularisation of hymn-singing and a huge proliferation of local hymn- it soon became clear that nothing less than a completely new hymn-book
books. The overwhelming need for some sort of standardisation led to the was called for.
publication in 1861 of Hymns Ancient and Modern. This volume quickly
established itself as a national institution, becoming in effect the They set about finding a suitable music editor for The English Hymnal,
unofficial standard hymn-book of the Church of England. But as time as the new book was to be called. Dearmer consulted Cecil Sharp and
went by and revised and expanded editions kept appearing, criticism Canon Scott Holland, both of whom, independently, came up with the
grew of the continually increasing proportion of third rate material within same name – Ralph Vaughan Williams. Cecil Sharp was of course the
its pages, which with the 1889 edition had reached alarming proportions. leading collector of folk-songs and Scott Holland was a Canon of St

Paul’s Cathedral. Although both men National music should represent the people. Will anyone dare
shared his political views, the choice of to say that the effusions of the Barnby school represent the
Vaughan Williams as editor was a English people? Hard-working men and women should be
surprising one for two reasons. Firstly, he given bracing and stimulating music, not the unhealthy
was at the time little known. There were outcome of theatrical and hysterical sentiment. 2
other musicians who were on the face of it
far better qualified and far better known As with Dearmer, the language used by Vaughan Williams is heavily
Percy Dearmer
amongst the musical establishment. laden. The band – no comment is made about the quality of its
Secondly, he was an atheist. It says much instruments or its performing capabilities other than a vague reference to
for the vision of Dearmer’s group that VW ‘its shortcomings’ - apparently possessed ‘a definite artistic nucleus’; on
was nevertheless regarded as the right the other hand the ‘wheezing harmonium’ was played by an ‘incompetent
person for the job. And so began a partnership between Dearmer and amateur’. Those churches ambitious enough to afford an organ would,
Vaughan Williams which was to last some 30 years. according to Vaughan Williams, usually find that the organist had
sacrificed musicianship in the cause of improved technique.
Underlying principles
Vaughan Williams’s and Percy Dearmer’s work was underpinned by their Vaughan Williams’s value judgements about the music itself are even
shared commitment to a revivalist agenda, and a common aim of setting more marked. The ‘old’ tunes, he tells us, have been superseded by
new standards of excellence. Dearmer’s Preface to The English Hymnal ‘exotic and languorous’ tunes that are of ‘maudlin sentiment’. These
is revealing in its highly subjective language: hymn-tunes, he maintains, are based on the ‘sickly harmonies’ of Spohr
and the ‘operatic sensationalism’ of Gounod, and are ‘the unhealthy
The ENGLISH HYMNAL is a collection of the best hymns in outcome of theatrical and hysterical sentiment’, exemplified in ‘the
the English language...It is an attempt to combine in one effusions of the Barnby school’. The implication is clear – this sort of
volume the worthiest expressions of all that lies within the music, based as it is on inferior foreign models, should no longer be
Christian Creed, from those 'ancient fathers' who were the deemed acceptable. To be truly representative of the ‘hard-working’
earliest hymn-writers down to contemporary exponents of English people our national music needed to be ‘bracing and
modern aspirations and ideals... these ancient hymns... in their stimulating’, just like the ‘old’ tunes of ‘our forefathers’.
Scriptural simplicity and sober dignity represent the deep
Christian experience of more than a thousand years... we have The opinions expressed here by Vaughan Williams are of crucial
attempted to redress those defects in popular hymnody which importance to our understanding of his cultural nationalism and the place
are deeply felt by thoughtful men; for the best hymns of within it of the hymn. He unequivocally links national music to a
Christendom are as free as the Bible from the self-centred revivalist agenda, and clearly sees the music of hymnody as an essential
sentimentalism, the weakness and unreality which mark part of this national music. This lecture was delivered in 1902, some two
inferior productions. 1 years before Dearmer invited Vaughan Williams to edit The English
Hymnal. It is clear that the underlying philosophies and objectives of
The emotive language used in this Preface speaks volumes about The Dearmer and Vaughan Williams were remarkably similar, so that when he
English Hymnal’s avowed agenda. Dearmer’s extremely bold claim that was proffered the musical editorship of EH Vaughan Williams was being
the new book was a collection of ‘the best hymns in the English presented with a ready-made and ideal platform, both practically and
language’ immediately suggests that the editors were intending it to be philosophically, on which to base his nationalist musical mission.
regarded as nothing less than a new benchmark of hymnodic excellence.
The ‘worthiest expressions of those ancient fathers’ and the Vaughan Williams made it quite plain that wholesale change in the
‘contemporary exponents of modern aspirations and ideals’ are conjoined repertoire was not only desirable, but essential. In the Musical Preface to
in language calculated to invite the reader to regard both the old and the EH he went so far as to say that many of the tunes then in current use
contemporary as manifestations of all that is finest. were ‘positively harmful to those who sing and hear them’. The heart of
the matter, though, is this statement:
But the real crux of Dearmer’s message is to be found in the second part
of this extract. To the ‘ancient hymns’ is ascribed ‘scriptural simplicity It is indeed a moral rather than a musical issue. No doubt it
and sober dignity’, whilst ‘popular hymnody’, he implies, is an ‘inferior requires a certain effort to tune oneself to the moral atmosphere
production’, associated with the ‘defects’ of ‘self-centred sentimentalism, implied by a fine melody; and it is far easier to dwell in the
weakness and unreality’. miasma of the languishing and sentimental hymn tunes which
so often disfigure our services. 3
There is a striking similarity between this language and that of Vaughan
Williams a year or two earlier in a lecture on folksong and religious Here, Vaughan Williams firmly asserts his belief that there is an over-
music. In this, he underlined the universal connection between folk song riding moral imperative for substantial change. In other words, whilst he
and the church, seen at its most obvious in the words and music of the holds good musical justifications for change, he is also seeking to lend
Christmas carol, which in England, he said, was being superseded by ‘the his reforms added primacy by the invocation of a higher moral authority.
sentimental effusions of the Barnby school’. He then went on to say:
Vaughan Williams clearly saw that his role as Music Editor of The
In this country the old tunes, which had served our forefathers English Hymnal was to ‘show the way’ and to lead the people out of the
so well, lasted well into the last century. The village band musical quagmire into which they had fallen. At the same time, reforming
which, with all its shortcomings, was a definite artistic nucleus the music of the hymnals constituted a fundamental and vital part of his
in the parish, was superseded by a wheezing harmonium wider mission to establish a new national music for England. The
played by an incompetent amateur, or in more ambitious underlying principles and objectives by which this would be achieved
churches a new organ was set up.... The organist had usually were by re-connecting the music of the hymn-book to the cultural roots
developed his technique at the expense of his musicianship, of England through a commitment to a revivalist agenda and a
and his taste was formed on the sickly harmonies of Spohr, determined quest for musical excellence.
overladen with the operatic sensationalism of Gounod; and the
church hymns had followed suit...in the original edition [of Editorial policies and practices
Hymns Ancient & Modern] there appeared a quantity of these In compiling The English Hymnal, one of the first decisions facing
exotic and languorous tunes which could be nothing but Vaughan Williams was to resolve the competing musical claims on the
enervating to those who sang and heard them; and in later hymn territory made by choir and congregation. He couldn’t have been
editions the element of maudlin sentiment has grown more explicit about this:
alarmingly until at last the bad has almost driven out the good.

The music is intended to be essentially congregational in

character...Fine melody rather than the exploitation of a trained
choir has been the criterion of selection ...The pitch of all the
tunes has been fixed as low as possible for the sake of mixed
congregations...the choir have their opportunity elsewhere, but
in the hymn they must give way to the congregation.4
As well as making the pitch of the hymns more suited to the vocal range
of the congregation, Vaughan Williams also introduced a much greater
variety and interest in the arrangements and accompaniments. There were
several hymns with special unison arrangements for one or two of the
verses, some with descants, and many more intended entirely for
enthusiastic unison singing, with strong, supportive organ parts. Here is
one example. It’s an old French Church melody, ORIENTIS PARTIBUS,
‘Soldiers who are Christ’s below’
ORIENTIS PARTIBUS
And there were a number of equally stirring arrangements of traditional In order to highlight the originality of which VW was capable within the
tunes, which I shall come to shortly. These were strong unison modest framework of the hymn-tune, it is worth looking a little more
arrangements that congregations could quickly learn. However, in his closely at the tune SALVA FESTA DIES.
own great processional hymns, SINE NOMINE and SALVA FESTA
DIES, Vaughan Williams really excelled himself. Here’s the SALVA FESTA DIES
incomparable SINE NOMINE, which personally I consider to be one of
the greatest of all hymn-tunes.
SINE NOMINE

Vaughan Williams’s total mastery of the medium, and his instinctive

understanding of what kind of setting would inspire wholehearted
participation by the people. This whole approach to the function of the
hymn book was a new departure.
The musical sources listed in Vaughan Williams’s musical preface to EH
provide some idea of the comprehensive range of music that he
researched, and from which he made his final selection (see Table 3).
Table 3: Musical Sources Consulted for the English Hymnal
GERMAN Lutheran chorale tunes from the 16th and 17th centuries
Tunes from the 16th and 17th century Catholic song books
Tunes of the 18th century, chiefly by Bach and Freylinghausen
Modern German tunes
German traditional melodies
FRENCH AND SWISS Tunes from the Genevan Psalters of the 16th century
Ecclesiastical melodies from the paroissiens of various French uses
(chiefly those of Rouen and Angers)
French and Swiss traditional melodies
ITALIAN, SPANISH, Ecclesiatical, traditional, and other melodies from these countries
FLEMISH & DUTCH
AMERICAN Lowell Mason’s tunes, certain tunes from Sacred Songs and Solos5 and a few
‘Western melodies’ in use in America as hymn tunes
BRITISH
IRISH Irish traditional melodies
Tunes by Irish composers
SCOTTISH Melodies from the Scottish Psalters of the 16th and 17th centuries
Melodies from the Scottish tune-books of the 18th and 19th centuries
Scottish traditional melodies
WELSH Archdeacon Pry’s Psalter
Welsh traditional melodies
Tunes by 18th and 19th century Welsh composers
ENGLISH Tunes from Day’s, Damon’s, Este’s, Ravenscroft’s, and Playford’s Psalters of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Tunes by Tallis, Gibbons, Lawes &c., from their own collections
Tunes from 18th century books – especially those by J. Clark and Dr. Croft
English carol, and other traditional melodies
Tunes by 19th and 20th century composers6
Source: The English Hymnal 1906, pp. xvi-xvii

There was much that The English Hymnal shared with its contemporary,
Hymns Ancient & Modern. However, when the contents of EH and A&M
1889 (the edition most widely in use at the time) are compared, the
remarkable increase in the range of musical period and style contained in
EH becomes clear (see Table 4).
Table 4: Contents of A&M and EH Compared
Number of entries in Number of entries
A&M 1889 edition in EH (744 in total,
with First Supplement + 23 further hymns
(779 hymns in total) inAppendix)
Victorian Composers
Barnby, J. 15 1 (+2)
Dykes, J. B. 60 10 (+2)
Gauntlett, H. J. 22 7
Goss, J. 5 1
Hopkins, E. J. 11 2
Monk, W. H. 57 9 (+3)
Ouseley, F. A. G. 13 1
Selby, B. L. 10 0
Smart, H. 18 4
Stainer, J. 32 0
Stanford, C. V. 7 0
Steggall, C. 7 2
Wesley, S. S. 20 5
Early Psalters
Day’s Psalter 0 9
Divine Companion 0 5
Genevan Psalter 0 16
French Church Melody 2 27
German Psalters 15 42
Scottish Psalter 7 16
16 to 18th century German
th
Bach, J. S. 1 33
Luther, Martin 3 8
Praetorius, M. 0 4
English & Welsh Traditional
The musical construction of this tune is unusual. It is in three sections; English 0 47
the first is in G, the second in A minor and the third begins in C. The Welsh 0 16
alternation of these three sections provides a constantly changing Tudor & Restoration
Gibbons, O. 7 16
Lawes, H. 0 7
harmonic context, ensuring that musical interest is maintained
Purcell, H. 0 3
throughout. The rhythmic variety of the melody is further enhanced by
Tallis, T. 6 8
the use of a syncopated figure, first heard at the end of the third bar, and
a triplet figure used in the third section. These features are thrown into American
relief by the steady crotchet beats of the ‘walking bass’, which is itself Various 0 6 (+ 1)
varied by the subtle introduction of minims in the third section. This
innovative use of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements shows Sources: A&M 1889; EH 1906.

Note:
i) In the interests of conciseness Table 3 lists only those entries where
there is a distinct difference between the two books. Entries that are
broadly comparable are not included.
ii) Tunes appearing in the EH Appendix are shown in brackets.
While Hymns Ancient and Modern focussed disproportionately on

Victorian composers, including over 270 such hymns, The English
Hymnal employed only around 50, a remarkable difference. Despite
some outstanding exceptions the Victorian repertoire in A&M was
dominated by a dull, four-square style, typified by this Barnby tune:
BARNBY TUNE
As well as a new harmonic and melodic style, many of the folksong

arrangements brought a new lightness of mood, as for instance in tunes
like RODMELL, with its unmistakably dance-like character.
RODMELL
Here, the almost exclusive use of minim beats in all four parts, and the
unadorned repetition of the two semibreves, gives the music an
unrelievedly heavy rhythm. The presence of the dotted figure in exactly
the same place each time only serves to emphasise this. The stolid
harmony consists almost entirely of common chords, and though a brief One folksong - Monk’s Gate - particularly inspired Vaughan Williams
modulation to D flat at the end of the third line of music brings some and later provided him with valuable source material for The Pilgrim’s
harmonic and melodic interest, it then degenerates into weak Progress.
chromaticism, collapsing onto an unimaginative pedal B flat in the final
phrase. This is typical of a very large number of Victorian hymns in MONKS GATE
A&M.
By far the most radical innovation to the music of The English Hymnal
was Vaughan Williams’s introduction of a large number of English and
Welsh traditional sources – tunes adapted by him from folksongs – of
which there were 63. These folksong adaptations introduced a completely
new modal idiom to the hymn-tune, as for example in the superb tune
KINGS LYNN:
KING’S LYNN
The importance of these innovatory folksong adaptations should not be

underestimated. Nothing like them had been seen in an English hymn-
book before.
A further difference between the two hymnals was the much more
extensive use that was made of music from the early psalters. Another

glance at Table 4 shows 115 such hymns in EH as against 24 in A&M. Praise went even further in its declared intention of providing a national
Early German tunes also offer an illuminating comparison; there are only collection, to include English poets and musicians of whatever faith. Its
4 in A&M as compared with EH’s 63. The enhanced presence of Bach aim was to reach out to an even wider section of the community, and it
chorales – 33 of them – is worth noting, and testifies to Vaughan was particularly aimed at schools and colleges. There were five new tunes
Williams’s enormous admiration for his music and its universality. by Vaughan Williams and a further twenty new arrangements, mostly
folksong adaptations. Here’s one of them - CUMNOR.
We can see, then, that Hymns Ancient and Modern 1889 was very
restricted in its general style, with Victorian composers monopolising its CUMNOR
contents, resulting in a very narrow harmonic, melodic and rhythmic
idiom. Its musical language relied heavily on the 19th century Germanic
tonic-dominant harmonic structure, predominantly realised through a
weak, post-Mendelssohn harmonic idiom, with largely unadventurous
melodies and plain rhythms.
In contrast, The English Hymnal embraced a much more comprehensive

range of musical styles, with many more tunes from a wider selection of
the early psalters, together with Tudor and Restoration music, and
traditional folksong arrangements. Victorian representation was
drastically reduced. In EH were now to be found the strong individuality
of Purcell, Gibbons and others, the chromaticism of Bach, and the
distinctive character of the early French Church melodies. This early
music was balanced by the modern idiom of Vaughan Williams and his
contemporaries, and the unfamiliar modal harmony of the folksong
adaptations. Consequently there was a considerable increase in the
variety of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic styles and, very importantly,
a wholesale rejection of recent Germanic influences. The English
Hymnal signified a sea change in the musical language of the hymn-
book.
Summary of Vaughan Williams’s editorial policy

The principal features of Vaughan Williams’s editorial policy may now be
summarised:
● The adaptation of a significant number of English folksongs as

hymn-tunes
● The revival of many Tudor and Restoration composers
● The rejection of large numbers of second-rate Victorian tunes
● The rejection of almost all foreign composers active later than
the18th century
● The inclusion of exclusively English modern composers Soon after the publication of Songs of Praise, Vaughan Williams,
Dearmer and Shaw began work on a new carol book. The situation with
Vaughan Williams was not only seeking to improve the general musical carols was very similar to the one encountered with The English Hymnal
quality of the new hymn-book; it is quite clear that he was deliberately in 1904. The many books currently available were dominated by
expunging the Victorian bias of A&M, with its associations of recent mediocre Victorian material. Some contained a few traditional carols that
German musical dominance, and replacing it with music emanating from were spurious or mutilated versions of the originals. There was obviously
unequivocally English cultural sources. His editorial practices closely an overwhelming need for a new, comprehensive carol book, based
correspond with the underlying currents of the wider English musical soundly on thorough research and scholarship, just as The English
renaissance, which sprang from the same influences. Hymnal had been. Editing The Oxford Book of Carols therefore required
much the same approach as for EH; namely, going back to original and
There is a nice summary of this in Hughes and Stradling’s The English traditional sources, and eliminating the second-rate Victorian hymns.
Musical Renaissance:
[The English Hymnal] was the first creative contact between As with the team’s previous productions, no effort was spared in
the Anglican Church and the English Musical Renaissance. preparing the words and music of The Oxford Book of Carols. Dearmer
Vaughan Williams’s academic outlook, coupled with his love of was assisted by a number of distinguished writers, including
Tudor music and his new dedication to folksong, forged the G.K.Chesterton, Robert Graves, A.A.Milne and Walter de la Mare.
Hymnal as an entirely new weapon for national music, to be Vaughan Williams and Shaw arranged much of the music, which also
wielded through the Church on the life of the nation. His included carols collected by Cecil Sharp and others, and the modern
inspiration was explicitly ideological, stemming from the composers represented included Rutland Boughton, Armstrong Gibbs,
conviction that the established Church was a vital pillar of Holst, Ireland, Warlock and Rubbra. This combination of prominent
‘Englishness’ and that its music should be purged of Victorian national literary and musical figures of the time contributed significantly
sentimentalism and ‘bad taste’...We cannot but help that reflect to the book’s identity as an authoritative repository of national Christmas
that Vaughan Williams had more of a mind to put Anglicans in music and to its function in furthering the nationalist agenda. The
touch with the English Musical Renaissance than with the contents comprised traditional carols from the British Isles and from
Almighty. 7 France, and other carols from mainland Europe and Scandinavia dating
from the 17th century or earlier. Once again, traditional sources
Songs of Praise, The Oxford Book of Carols and Songs of Praise predominated, foreign sources were all ancient, very few 19th century
Enlarged carols were used, and new carols were all written by English composers.
In 1925 Songs of Praise was published. Once more, Vaughan Williams Vaughan Williams himself contributed four original carols and twenty-
and Percy Dearmer collaborated on the project, this time with the added three arrangements. Not all have remained popular, but here is one that
contribution of Martin Shaw, who was engaged as joint music editor. certainly has.
Though its contents drew heavily on The English Hymnal, Songs of

SUSSEX CAROL The Oxford Book of Carols therefore espoused a purposefully revivalist
nationalist policy, which, together with the firm move away from
Germanic tonic-dominant harmony and the expansion of musical idiom
and style, applied the principles that had been pioneered by The English
Hymnal to the carol repertoire.
In the meantime Songs of Praise had proved to be such an immediate and

overwhelming success that, in response to popular demand, Songs of
Praise Enlarged was published only six years later, in 1931. The same
sources were employed, but this time tunes arranged from folksongs and
new tunes or arrangements by living composers figured even more
prominently. Table 5 shows the extent to which the incorporation of
English national music in hymnals had developed from the compilation
of The English Hymnal in 1906 to the publication of Songs of Praise
Enlarged in 1931.
Table 5: Comparison of Tradtional and Modern Tunes in EH and SPE

Number of tunes in EH Number of tunes in SPE
(744 in total, (703 in total,
+ 23 in Appendix) +2 in Appendix)
Traditional
English 48 43
Irish 1 13
Scottish 0 2
Welsh 3 6
The Shaw brothers
Shaw, Geoffrey 0 31
Shaw, Martin 0 47
Modern composers
Bairstow, Edward 0 1
Bax, Arnold 0 1
Bullock, Ernest 0 3
Darke, Harold 0 3
Gibbs, C. Armstrong 0 3
Gray, Alan 0 10
Hadley, Patrick 0 1
Harris, William 0 2
Holst, Gustav 3 11
Howells, Herbert 0 1
Ireland, John 1 2
Ley, Henry 0 5
Nicholson, Sydney 0 3
Slater, Gordon 0 3
Sumsion, Herbert 0 1
Vaughan Williams, Ralph 4 14
Sources: EH 1906; SPE 1931
Notes:
i) For the purposes of conciseness only the most well-known and most
well-represented entries are listed.
ii) The Shaw brothers, Martin and Geoffrey, have been placed in a
section of their own because essentially they belong to both
categories. Many of their tunes were either arrangements of
folksongs or new tunes written very much in the folksong style
through their use of, for instance, modal harmonies.
iii) SPE included thirty of VW’s arrangements, eighteen of which had
first appeared in EH.
Unlike EH before it, Songs of Praise Enlarged was characterised by the

dominance of modern English composers. From those listed here, only 8
hymns appeared in The English Hymnal as opposed to 64 in Songs of
Praise Enlarged. Traditional sources are roughly comparable between
the two books. However, when the Shaw brothers’ contribution is taken
into account (see note ii), the true extent of the difference between the
two books is revealed. The total number of traditional and modern
sources is 60 for EH and 206 for SPE, or approximately 8% and 29% of
their contents respectively. The predominance of these traditional and
modern English sources in SPE represented a distinct advance in the
continuing propagation of a nationalist musical agenda.
The lesser hymnals

The ten lesser volumes were largely aimed at the younger section of
Anglican congregations. Only one new tune was composed by Vaughan
Williams for these books - MARATHON appeared for the first time in
Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls (1929) – but all of them contained a
significant number of his arrangements and original tunes, thereby

promoting his name and his musical message amongst the next In 1933 a revised music edition of The English Hymnal was published. It
generation. Here’s MARATHON. incorporated a significant number of folksong arrangements that had first
appeared in Songs of Praise. And so a cross-fertilisation took place that
further demonstrates the function of the hymnals as discrete yet inter-
related agents in the development of a national music.
From this analysis of Vaughan Williams’s work on hymnals the

progression of his nationalist cultural agenda becomes evident. The
English Hymnal was the first and most important publication, setting new
standards of scholarship and excellence, and introducing a clearly
conceived nationalist musical policy. In Songs of Praise a more explicitly
national identity was pursued, whilst The Oxford Book of Carols applied
the principles of its two predecessors to the carol repertoire. In Songs of
Praise Enlarged this policy was carried even further, with traditional and
modern English sources accounting for nearly a third of its contents. This
liberation from the German-dominated musical style of the 19th century
and its replacement by a specifically English idiom linked the hymnals
directly with the wider musical renaissance in which Vaughan Williams
played such a central role.
Notes
1 Dearmer: Preface to EH, p. iii-v
2 RVW: ‘Religious folk songs’ - Oxford University Extension Lecture, Pokesdown
Technical School, Bournemouth, (see Kennedy Works, pp.33-34)
3 RVW: Preface to EH, p.xi
4 ibid, pp.x-xii
5 A collection edited by Ira Sankey and published in London.
6 RVW contributed four new tunes: DOWN AMPNEY (Come down, O love divine)
RANDOLPH (God be with you till we meet again) SALVE FESTA DIES (Hail thee,
Festival Day) and SINE NOMINE (For all the saints). The other modern composers
included were William Bell (2 tunes), Walford Davies (1), Thomas Dunhill (1), Nicholas
Gatty (2), A.M.Goodhart (1), Gustav Holst (3), John Ireland (1), Walter Parratt (1) and
Arthur Somervell (3).
7 Hughes & Stradling, p.81
Part 3: The reception and impact of the hymnals

by John Bawden
One of the most remarkable things about The English Hymnal, both The fact that The English Hymnal was taken up by cathedrals and high
editions of Songs of Praise and The Oxford Book of Carols was the huge churches meant that from the first it was ideally placed to influence many
degree of popular and commercial success that they all enjoyed. senior figures within the Church hierarchy, and it therefore achieved an
Although the shrewd judgement and promotional strategies of the Oxford acceptance at the highest level which was a crucial factor in its eventual
University Press 1 played an important part in this achievement, there can popularisation. In due course its far-reaching influence was recognised,
be little doubt that the widespread and continuing success of the various as for example in A.E.F.Dickinson’s article in The Musical Times of May
publications was primarily due to the scholarship, vision and 1956, in which he commented:
determination of the editors.
In the past, churches have fostered the musically intolerable or
Initial reception of the hymnals spineless, either by using a bad book or by cherishing the worst
The English Hymnal was viewed as a controversial publication when it in what they have, instead of bringing out hidden treasures.
first appeared, its Anglo-Catholic tone and startling originality at first Today this is no longer a true generalisation; and fifty years
appealing almost exclusively to those with high church inclinations. after publication it seems undeniable that ‘The English
Certain doctrinal objections were raised by a number of clergy, including Hymnal’ has been largely responsible for the improvement. 3
five bishops; the Bishop of Bristol went so far as to prohibit its use in his
diocese. However, the reservations expressed about it gradually subsided, The publication of The Oxford Book of Carols was greeted with
and more and more churches adopted it as it appealed to an ever- enthusiasm by churches, choirs of all kinds, schools and colleges, for
widening circle, so that by the twenties and thirties it had gained whom there was a pressing need for such a volume. From 1928 until the
widespread acceptance, as Duncan Hinnells succinctly describes: first appearance of Carols for Choirs in 1961, The Oxford Book of Carols
held sway as the definitive carol collection.
From the hymnal’s status as radical, reformist text which
appealed only to a specialist minority at the start of the century, Part of the appeal of Songs of Praise and Songs of Praise Enlarged lay in
The English Hymnal became transformed in subsequent the originality and challenging nature of much of their contents. Songs of
decades into an established and seemingly uncontroversial part Praise Enlarged was widely adopted by schools all over the country, and
of the Anglican world. 2 - crucially from Vaughan Williams’s point of view - used regularly by the

BBC for its religious broadcasts until 1951, when it produced its own
BBC Hymnbook.
Other than the initial reaction to The English Hymnal, the reception of the
hymnals was therefore extremely positive. EH had revolutionised the
whole concept of the hymnal. Its scholarship and artistic integrity set the
standard for later hymnals, many of which reprinted hymns from it. 4 And
so, from being seen initially as a revolutionary development it quite
quickly became accepted as part of the musical and liturgical
establishment. None of the other three principal books attracted the same Although the offshoots of Songs of Praise contained little or no new
degree of initial suspicion and hostility. This was largely due to the material, their importance should not be underestimated. These ten lesser
fundamental change in perceptions brought about by the radical reforms volumes were primarily aimed at children (see Table 1). They were
that EH had pioneered in 1906. In the case of The Oxford Book of Carols published at regular intervals between the wars, and continued to be used
it was also due to the fact that it fulfilled a long-felt need. Whereas EH extensively for some years after, thereby guaranteeing that Vaughan
had to contend with the incumbent A&M, OBC encountered no such Williams’s musical agenda maintained its momentum and that his name
competition. There were several successful small carol books, 5 but continued to be circulated at a grass-roots musical level into the next
certainly no definitive collection. The two editions of Songs of Praise generation and beyond.
similarly enjoyed immediate acceptance.
Conclusion
The wider impact of the hymnals Vaughan Williams’s determined campaign to establish a genuinely
Through the huge commercial success of the hymnals, Vaughan Williams English music was conducted on a number of fronts. The hymnals,
was able to disseminate his concept of a national music across a wide though not one of the most obvious instruments of this campaign, were
cross-section of society and over a considerable period of time. To begin nevertheless a vital part of it. By reforming the music of the hymnal and
with, this was through the Anglican community, comprising millions of creating a new national hymn-book in the process, The English Hymnal,
individuals in this country and overseas. With the advent of Songs of Vaughan Williams was effectively reforming the people’s music of the
Praise the focus shifted to the enormous educational market. From its Established Church, one of the nation’s foremost cultural institutions.
publication until 1951 SP became the BBC’s standard hymn-book for its The same process can be observed in his promotion of Songs of Praise as
many regular and occasional religious broadcasts. An important a new national hymn-book for the educational establishment. It was a
consequence of this was that Vaughan Williams’s musical objectives and determined and systematic attempt to institutionalise his concept of a
his own standing as a ‘national’ composer were lent further authority wholly English national music.
through the BBC’s status as the cultural voice of the nation.
That concept sprang from his firmly stated belief that music is ‘the
The influence of The Oxford Book of Carols was more diffuse. Its expression of the soul of a nation’, and that it has the spiritual power to
importance lay in its value as a choir book. As such, it found its way into unite people of all classes and backgrounds. In promulgating this vision
churches, schools, colleges and choral societies. One particular melody in through the medium of the hymnals, Vaughan Williams was determined
OBC greatly helped to identify Vaughan Williams as the quintessential to include only music that represented ‘the treasure of the humble and the
English composer in the minds of the public. This was Greensleeves 6, an highest expression of the greatest minds’, 11 and that in this most
‘authentic’ version 7 of which Vaughan Williams had discovered some fundamental of creative activities, which for many people represented
years earlier in an obscure sixteenth century publication, 8 and which in one of the few points of contact with any kind of musical heritage, they
many ways came to epitomise the English pastoral style. Vaughan should be re-connected with the roots of English musical culture by
Williams’s image as a national composer became further enhanced giving them an unequivocally English musical language with which to
through his close association with this tune, principally through its express themselves. As a result of his musical crusade, ordinary people
metamorphosis into the Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’, for flute, harp and were regularly exposed to the English folksong heritage and the music of
strings, 9 but also through its many instrumental, vocal and choral Purcell, Tallis, Gibbons and others - composers who would have been
arrangements. 10 otherwise unknown to the general public at that time. Equally
importantly, Vaughan Williams was effecting a liberation from the long
GREENSLEEVES period of subservience to German musical styles and a new awareness of
modern English composers, not least himself.
What I hope I have shown is that, though distinct and separate

publications, collectively the hymnals formed a structured progression in
the development of Vaughan Williams’s cultural nationalism, initially
through the medium of the Church, later, through the educational system
as well, and then further reinforced by BBC broadcasts. The solid
foundations of a nationalist policy were laid down in The English Hymnal
and built on by Songs of Praise. The Oxford Book of Carols used the
principles applied to the first two volumes in the production of a
definitive carol book. Songs of Praise Enlarged developed the nationalist
agenda still further, and the 1933 revision of EH incorporated some
material first published in Songs of Praise. There was thus a broadly
linked developmental pattern from 1906 through to 1933. Additional
momentum was provided by the publication of a number of smaller
offshoots of Songs of Praise.
This impressive body of hymnal work, covering some thirty years, has
not received the close attention it deserves. Those more recent writers and
commentators who have looked at it have tended to concentrate on The
English Hymnal, to the virtual exclusion of the other hymn-books. The
relationship between the hymnals and the composer’s folksong collecting
has dominated critical discussions, and the few writers who have
commented in more depth on Vaughan Williams’s editorial policies have
largely done so in a fragmented way, thereby failing to identify the true

nature and function of those policies, or of their sequential development. KENNEDY, M. A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams
None of the literature has looked at all the hymnals as a connected body (OUP, 1964/1982) The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Clarendon
of work in its own right, or recognised the full extent of its significance Paperback, 1964/1980/1992)
to Vaughan Williams’s continued promulgation of a nationalist musical LONG, K. The Music of the English Church (Hodder & Stoughton)
agenda and his own image as a national composer. Furthermore, the ONDERDONK, J. ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Folksong Collecting’
influence of hymns on the composer’s own music, both in the form of (Unpublished PhD thesis, New York University, 1998) ‘Hymn tunes from
significant numbers of short pieces and, at a more subtle level, as folk songs: Vaughan Williams and English Hymnody’ (Unpublished
thematic, harmonic and textural elements within his large-scale works, paper delivered by Julian Onderdonk, RVW Fellow, under the auspices of
has hardly been touched on. the Carthusian Trust, 2002)
OTTOWAY, H. Vaughan Williams (Novello, 1966)
The enormous commercial success of the hymnals both in this country PAKENHAM, S. Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Discovery of his Music
and in English-speaking communities abroad meant that Vaughan (MacMillan, 1957)
Williams was able to disseminate his musical vision across a ROUTLEY, E. The Music of Christian Hymnody Independent Press,
phenomenally wide geographical and generational spectrum. In the (1957). The English Carol (Herbert Jenkins, 1958)
process his own image as a national composer became similarly TEMPERLEY, N. The Music of the English Parish Church (Cambridge
projected. And so the hymn-book, that apparently most unassuming of University Press, 1979)
musical anthologies, became in Vaughan Williams’s hands a powerful TREND, M. The Music Makers; Heirs and rebels of the English musical
reforming tool, with far-reaching consequences for public perceptions of renaissance (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985)
English music and for his own reputation as the quintessential English VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, R. ‘The Music’ (Preface to The English
composer. Hymnal, pp.x-xix OUP, 1906). ‘Who wants the English composer?’
(RCM magazine, vol.ix, No.1, 1912, reprinted in Foss 1950). ‘Some
reminiscences of The English Hymnal’, (The First Fifty Years: A brief
Notes account of The English Hymnal from 1906 to 1956. OUP, 1956),
1 The two senior figures at OUP who had most to do with the hymnals were Humphrey National Music and other essays (OUP, 1963)
Milford and Hubert Foss. Foss in particular enjoyed a long and close relationship with VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, U. R.V.W: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan
RVW. Williams (OUP, 1964)
2 Hinnells, p.44 WATSON, J. The English Hymn (Clarendon Press, 1997)
3 Dickinson 1956, p.243 WEINHORST, R. ‘The Church Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (The
4 See Dickinson 1963, Appendix A, pp.488-493 for details of the considerable number of Journal of Church Music, October 1972 Philadelphia, USA: Fortress
other hymnals that reprinted Vaughan Williams’s original tunes and arrangements. Press, 1972)
5 e.g. The Cowley Carol Book (1901, 1902) and The Westminster Carol Book (1913). YOUNG, P. Vaughan Williams (Dennis Dobson, 1953)
6 Although it was RVW with whom the tune came to be associated, the arrangement in OBC
was in fact by Martin Shaw, the joint music editor.
7 It appears as a ‘cleaned-up’ Victorian carol to the words What Child is this?’ in Bramley ORIENTIS PARTIBUS
& Stainer’s Christmas Carols New and Old (1877). KINGS LYNN
8 Greensleeves appears in RVW.’s Incidental Music to ‘King Richard II’, (1913) and then in [Arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from 'The English Hymnal'
his opera Sir John in Love (1928). by permission of Oxford University Press]
9 This arrangement was made by Ralph Greaves in 1934. SINE NOMINE
10 Kennedy’s Catalogue, pp.152-153, lists 13 of these arrangements some by RVW and some
SALVE FESTA DIES
by others.
CUMNOR
11 RVW: ‘Some conclusions’, p.72
[Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from 'The English
John Bawden’s email address: john@37crown.freeserve.co.uk Hymnal' by permission of Oxford University Press]
RODMELL
[Coll. & adap. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from 'The English
Sources and further reading: Hymnal' by permission of Oxford University Press]
ADAMS, B. ‘Scripture, Church, and culture: biblical texts in the works
of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (Vaughan Williams Studies, ed. Frogley, MONKS GATE
Cambridge University Press, 1996) [Coll., adapt. & arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from 'The
BAWDEN, J. ‘Towards a National Music: Vaughan Williams and the English Hymnal' by permission of Oxford University Press]
Hymnals’ (Unpublished MMus dissertation, University of Surrey, 2002) SUSSEX CAROL
DAY, J. Vaughan Williams (Dent, 1961) [(c) Oxford University Press from 'The Oxford Book of Carols' by
DEARMER, P. Preface to The English Hymnal, pp.iii-ix (OUP, 1906) permission of Oxford University Press]
Preface to The Oxford Book of Carols, pp.v-xix (OUP, 1928)
GREENSLEEVES
DEARMER, P. & JACOB, A. Songs of Praise Discussed (OUP, 1933)
[(c) Oxford University Press 1928 from 'The Oxford Book of Carols' by
DICKINSON, A.E.F. Vaughan Williams (Faber, 1963) ‘Some thoughts
permission of Oxford University Press]
about The English Hymnal’ (The Musical Times pp.243-245, May 1956)
DRAIN, S. ‘A Study of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1860 – 1875’
(Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1979)
FOSS, H. Ralph Vaughan Williams (Harrap, 1950)
FROGLEY, A. ‘Constructing Englishness in music: National character
and the reception of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ (Vaughan Williams
Studies, ed. Frogley, CUP 1996)
FROST, M. (ed.) Historical Companion to Hymns Ancient & Modern
(William Clowes, 1962)
GRAY, D. Percy Dearmer (Canterbury Press, 2000)
HINNELLS, D. ‘The Making of a National Composer: Vaughan
Williams, OUP and the BBC’ (Unpublished DPhil thesis, Oxford
University, 1999)
HOWES, F. The music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (OUP, 1954)
HUGHES, M. & STRADLING, R. The English Musical Renaissance
1840-1940 (Manchester University Press, 1993/2001)

Two Obscure Hymn Tunes

of Ralph Vaughan Williams
by John Barr
It is well known that Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was the music In LITTLE CLOISTER, Vaughan Williams maintained the same basic
editor for The English Hymnal (1906) and collaborated in this capacity rhythmic pattern illustrated in the French church melodies, but he
with Martin Shaw (1875-1958) for Songs of Praise (1925) and for its achieved more melodic unity. Motivic unity can be observed as
enlarged edition (1931). One of his significant contributions in this bracketed: [a] between mm. 1-2 9-10, and 16-17; [b] between mm. 3-4
capacity was the composition of thirteen hymn tunes which included the and 18-19; [c] between mm. 11-12 and 21-22. (See appended hymn
well known and loved SINE NOMINE, DOWN AMPNEY, tune.)
RANDOLPH and KING'S WESTON. 1 These four tunes have found
acceptance in a number of various hymnals, and all thirteen are found in LITTLE CLOISTER provides a vital, yet reflective melody supported by
Songs of Praise, enlarged edition. 2 rich harmonic variety to produce a most fitting complement to Dearmer’s
text. Since this hymn with its specially composed tune forms an
The two obscure hymn tunes by Vaughan Williams were composed later excellent expression of corporate Eucharistic worship, it deserves to be
than the above mentioned tunes and are not available in any current better known.
published hymnal or collection, though they have been published by
Oxford University Press. 3 They are listed by Michael Kennedy among
the works of Vaughan Williams as:
LITTLE CLOISTER... Hymn tune for voices in unison and organ...

HYMN FOR SAINT MARGARET... 'Praise God for Margaret'... 4
LITTLE CLOISTER
LITTLE CLOISTER was composed in 1935 for the hymn text, "As the
disciples, when thy Son had left them", by the Rev. Percy Dearmer
(1876-1936) which appears as number 262 in Songs of Praise, enlarged
edition (1931). 5 Dearmer defined his text as, "an attempt to express the
religion of the Eucharist in its historical setting; and also to provide a new
musical form for a Communion hymn." 6 The text’s meter is specified by
Dearmer, “Double Sapphic: [in which] two Sapphic stanzas are
combined into one hymn-verse of eight lines.” 7 Because of the unusual
length of each verse, as well as the length of their lines, the editors had
to supply this text with two different hymn tunes to be sung consecutively
with each Double Sapphic stanza. Although these two French church
melodies (ROUEN and BAYEUX) are similar in rhythmic pattern and are
in closely related keys to each other, there is not sufficient melodic unity
to conceal the resulting pastiche.
It becomes clear, therefore, why Vaughan Williams composed one

continuous hymn tune to match the length of Dearmer’s stanzas. Though
LITTLE CLOISTER was composed at least four years later than
Dearmer’s hymn, 8 it is not clear why this tune was never included in a
later printing of Songs of Praise which had undergone sixteen
impressions by 1960. 9 Nevertheless, Dearmer’s hymn with Vaughan
Williams’s tune was published by Oxford University Press in 1935 and
presumably was available as a supplement to the hymnal.
The thought in each of Dearmer’s eight-line stanzas is organized into two

distinct sections, each of which begins with the adverb “as” or “so”.
LITTLE CLOISTER, in the key of D major, is successful with its binary
form in acknowledging the two parts of each stanza, without over-
punctuating the end of the first part in m. 15. The A section progresses
smoothly from a Phrygian cadence (mm. 14-15) into the B section which
quickly moves to G major. While these chords provide harmonic motion, ST. MARGARET
the whole notes of the tune in mm. 14 and 15 provide a melodic and ST. MARGARET was composed in January or February, 1948, to a text
harmonic repose, appropriate to this point of the text. In m. 16, the by Ursula Wood (later Ursula Vaughan Williams, b. 1911), for the
chromatic modulation to G major matches the progression of thought Hymnal for Scotland, incorporating The English Hymnal, where it
which takes place at this point. This point of modulation is at the cross- appears as number 748. 10 Mrs. Vaughan Williams’s text tells of St.
relation between the chords on each side of the double bar between mm. Margaret (c.1045-1093), queen consort of Malcolm III of Scotland and of
15 and 16. They key of D major returns in m. 19 by means of a G major her legacy to Scotland’s history. 11 St. Margaret was canonized by
pivot chord. Innocent IV in 1249, and her feast day was eventually fixed on June 10. 12

The author of the text related the fact that the tune was composed before
the text was written. Vaughan Williams told her the tune was written to
the meter of Tennyson’s poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. As an
aid, the composer provided “a beautifully accented and slightly bawdy
exposition of the stresses and metre his tune required.” 13
The hymn tune ST. MARGARET possesses a jubilant D major melody

supported by richly-textured harmony. The rhythmic treatment of each
stanza’s short lines is done so as to avoid repeatedly short musical
phrases which would merely stop soon after they start. Each of the first
three lines is given a two-measure rhythmic pattern which keeps moving.
The fourth line of each quatrain is appropriately punctuated by two

dotted half notes. The second quatrain in each stanza, though metrically
identical to the first, receives a rhythmic expansion in its first two lines.
This provides a new rhythm before the previous two-bar pattern is

resumed once again in line three of the second quatrain. As a result, the
phrase structure avoids routine regularity by achieving a variety of phrase Notes
lengths: phrase one: 9 mm., phrases two and three: 3 mm. each, and 1 The others are: SALVE FESTA DIES, CUMNOR, GUILDFORD, MAGDA, OAKLEY,
MARATHON, ABINGER, MANTEGNA and WHITE GATES
phrase four: 6 mm. In order to achieve this phrase structure in
performance, particularly the impression of one phrase for mm. 1 through 2 Songs of Praise, enlarged edition with music: [Words Editor: Percy Dearmer, Music
Editors: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw]. London; Oxford University Press,
9, a brisk tempo is needed.
[c1931].
3 A photocopy of each hymn tune was kindly made available by Mr. Brian Hill, Oxford
The melodic structure of ST. MARGARET is predominantly pentatonic. University Press, Music Department; New York, N.Y, April 7, 1982.
Only in four measures of the melody (mm. 1, 2, 14 and 16) out of the total
4 Michael Kennedy, A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, revised edition,
twenty-one, can there be found the fourth and seventh degrees of the London, Oxford University Press, 1982. pp. 164 and 196.
major scale. The rest of the melodic patterns conform to: D, E, F-sharp,
A and B. The melodic contour moves up and down the range of an octave, 5 Ibid. p. 164.
however the high e is reserved for a climax on the penultimate note. This 6 Songs of Praise Discussed: A handbook to the best known hymns and to others recently
melody in its contour appears similar to the principal theme in the fourth introduced. Compiled by Percy Dearmer, with notes on the music by Archibald Jacob;
movement of the composer’s Symphony No. 8 in D Minor, (1953-55) and London, Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, [1933], p. 153.
also similar to the theme in the Epilogue of the composer’s Christmas 7 Ibid. Sapphic metre is 11 11. 11 5. For further information, see Songs of Praise
cantata, Hodie, (1954). Discussed, p. 15.
8 This tune was “composed in 1935 but…not…incorporated into the hymn book.”
The harmony of ST. MARGARET does not modulate. The only Kennedy, p. 164.
extension beyond diatonic chords occurs with the use of secondary 9 Songs of Praise, enlarged edition, p. ii.
dominants: the V of V in m. 7 and the V of ii in m. 14. The harmony of
this tune progresses with an active bass line which moves primarily in 10 Kennedy, p. 196. The Hymnal for Scotland…is out of print. Letter from Mr. Brian Hill,
Oxford University Press, Music Department, New York, April 7, 1982.
contrary motion to the melody.
11 Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, London, Toronto… Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.,
William Benton Publisher [c 1968], Vol. 14, pp. 860 and 693 contain, respectively, the
The use of ST. MARGARET outside of Scotland is, of course, rather
entries for St. Maragaret of Scotland and Malcolm II who defeated and killed Macbeth,
impractical due to the subject of the text. There do not appear to be many King of Scots from 1040-1075. (Ibid. p. 496)
other texts with the same meter; however, Songs of Praise, enlarged
12 Ibid., p. 861.
edition, does have a text by John Masefield (1878- 1967), “Sing, Men and
Angels Sing”,14 which matches the tune beautifully. This text is suitable 13 Ursula Vaughan Williams, R.V.W. a Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams; London,
for Easter and Ascension, thus giving the tune ST. MARGARET a Oxford University Press, [1964], p. 281.
potentially wider practicality. 14 Songs of Praise, enlarged edition. [hymn no. 165]. This article originally appeared in the
Journal of The Hymn Society in the United States of Canada, THE HYMN 38 - 3 (July
1987), 23 – 27. It is reprinted here with kind permission. The Cloister is printed with
kind permission of Oxford University Press. St Margaret is printed with kind permission
of Ursula Vaughan Williams.

DETERMINING A CHRONOLOGOCAL LIST OF

RVW’S ORIGINAL HYMN TUNES
by John Barr
John G. Barr is Professor of Organ and other miscellaneous hymn tunes
Piano at Bridgewater College (Virginia) 14. My soul Praise the Lord (1935)
and is Organist at the Bridgewater 15. Little Cloister (1935)
Church of the Brethren. He holds the B.S. 16. A Hymn of Freedom (1939)
degree from Manchester College 17. A Call to the Free Nations (1941)
Indiana and the S.M.M. and S.M.D. 18. The Airman’s Hymn (1942)
degrees from Union Theological Seminary 19. Hymn for Saint Margaret (1948)
NYC.
Vaughan Williams composed his original hymn tunes primarily to
provide music to texts which had peculiar meters. Another reason was
Reprinted by permission of the Hymn Society of the United States most likely to replace a tune of obviously poor quality. His hymn tunes
and Canada are all well crafted and very rarely show identical melodic repetition.
Information and observations on RVW’S hymn tunes can be found in
Although Vaughan Williams’s original hymn tunes are well documented, Songs of Praise Discussed (O.U.P., 1933) by Percy Dearmer and
a clearly organized list seems to be lacking. Michael Kennedy’s, A Archibald Jacobs. The following paragraphs will provide some of this
Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Second Edition is and other information with some of my own observations on some, but
complete in documenting all of the composer’s original hymn tunes, but not all of the hymn tunes in the above list.
the list on pages 308 and 309 lacks clarity for these reasons: various
hymnals which VW edited are included, some folk song adaptations are DOWN AMPNEY is a tune which was composed for the unusual meter,
included, some hymn tunes by others which VW arranged are included, 66.11.D. RVW avoids identical melodic repetition of bars 6-9 by a subtle
and his original hymn tunes have two entries each listed alphabetically by re-ordering of the pitches in bars 15-18.
text and tune name. These are not faults since the purpose of Kennedy’s
list is NOT to focus exclusively on the original hymn tunes. It is, RANDOLPH was most likely named after RVW’s cousin, Ralph
however, difficult to see in a convenient format just how many original Wedgewood (1874-1956), known to his family as “Randolph”. The last
hymn tunes RVW composed. A further difficulty in compiling a list melodic phrase is identical to the first as are the words, however RVW
devoted exclusively to RVW’s original hymn tunes comes in determining gives the second note of the last phrase a slightly different chord
the limits of the genre. An example is FAMOUS MEN, 432 in Songs of (secondary dominant) which provides a refreshing contrast at this point!
Praise (1931) which lacks a metrical strophic text. Its genre is identified
in this hymnal as a canticle and at its entry in Kennedy’s Catalogue…, a SINE NOMINE has a number of melodic motives which Michael
unison song. The through-composed setting of its text of irregular meter, Kennedy finds in earlier and later works by the composer. (The Works of
the music of which is more complex than that sung by the average Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1980; p. 79 and 85). Alain Frogley is the only
congregation, clearly places it outside of the hymn tune genre. The list writer, to my knowledge, who has pointed out that the “Alleluya motive”
of hymn tunes in the New Groves, 1980 and 2001 which rightfully melodically echoes Elgar’s Alleluia sung by the Angel in Part 2 of The
excludes FAMOUS MEN also excludes HYMN FOR ST. MARGARET Dream of Gerontius. (Frogley: Vaughan Williams’s Ninth Symphony,
and My Soul Praise the Lord, two tunes which clearly conform to the O.U.P. 2001, p. 281, n.56). Elgar’s motive b c ba be outlines E minor
typical characteristics of the hymn tune genre. RVW himself used the while VW’s outlines G Major. This tune has circulated throughout the
word hymn in various genres. The music for his Four Hymns for Tenor, world, perhaps, as much as any tune in Christian hymnody. Ursula
Viola and Strings (1914) are solo songs, while Three Choral Hymns for Vaughan Williams in her book, R.V.W. a Biography of Ralph Vaughan
Baritone or Tenor, Mixed Choir and Orchestra (1929) obviously go far Williams (OUP 1964) quotes Canon Lancelot Bark’s account of one of
beyond the difficulty level of congregational singing. RVW also the tune’s excursions about which he told the composer in 1925 as
composed three hymn tunes which conform to the genre while the follows:
content of their texts are outside the usual categories of Christian
worship. Here then is the resulting list in chronological order followed The second Anglo-Catholic pilgrimage to the Holy Places in 1925
by some observations which I have found interesting. on which I was director of the music, included the Isle of Patmos.
The leaders of our pilgrimage, Dr. Hutton, Dean of Winchester,
for The English Hymnal (1906) the late Dr. Russell Wakefield, Bishop of Birmingham, and other
1. Down Ampney Come down, O Love Divine eminent Churchmen, were eager to make our visit to Patmos the
2. Randolph God be with you till we meet again highlight of the tour. For that purpose they requested me to form
3. Salve festa Dies Hail Thee, Festival Day the pilgrims, over 300 in number, into a vast choir to ascend the
4. Sine Nomine For all the Saints hill leading to the monestery, singing Sine Nomine. I spread it out
with interludes between the verses, and perhaps more by good
for Songs of Praise (1925) luck than good management, the last verse was reached as we
5. Cumnor Servants of God, or Sons entered the quadrangle of the monestery where it rang out and
6. Guildford England, arise! echoed magnificently around the building.
7. Magda Saviour, again to Thy dear name
8. Oakley The night is come The Abbot, who appeared to be the choir director, was thrilled by
9. King’s Weston At the name of Jesus it, and asked methrough our interpreter, what was the tune. I told
him it was a modern tune by ourmost eminent English composer.
for Songs of Praise for Boys and Girls (1929) He insisted on my giving him a copy of it, for which I was
10. Marathon Servants of the great adventure conducted to the Scriptorium and supplied with a vast sheet of
vellum and an immense inkpot. I understood that he was going to
for Songs of Praise (1931) adapt it to some Antiphon for use in their services. So Sine
11. Abinger I vow to thee, my country Nomine reached Patmos in 1925. (U.V.W.: R.V.W., OUP 1964,
12. Mantegna Into the woods my master went pp. 159-160)
13. White Gates Fierce raged the tempest
RVW replied to Canon Bark, writing that probably the next visitor to
Patmos would collect his tune as Greek folk song! (U.V.W. p. 160)

The remaining hymn tunes that are best known in the hymnals of which My Soul Praise the Lord was cited by Graham Muncy in this journal, No.
Vaughan Williams was musical editor are those for the three publications 25, October, 2002, p. 26 reporting that he discovered the autograph
of songs of Praise. CUMNOR is a setting of a portion of Matthew manuscript of this hymn in a bound volume of music manuscripts by
Arnold’s poem, Rugby Chapel. The tune name most likely comes form various composers. I am grateful for Mr. Muncy’s discovery as I had
the Cumnor Hills which were held in fond remembrance by Arnold in his thought that RVW arranged the OLD 104th PSALM TUNE for this text
poems, The Scholar Gypsy and Thyrsis which Vaughan Williams since they appear together in his Fantasia (quasi variazione) on the Old
immortalized in his later work, An Oxford Elegy (1947-49). 104th Psalm Tune for piano, orch. and mixed chorus (1949). RVW’s
GUILDFORD is likely named for a town located south-west of London. hymn tune to this text is still available as I was able to obtain a copy
KING’S WESTON is named for the home of Philip Napier Miles where through the kindness of Brian Hill of the O.U.P. Music Department in
RVW spent many happy week-ends. The modality and the contour of this New York.
fine melody remind one of plainsong. MARATHON originated in the
composer’s incidental music for The Wasps, a comedy by Aristophanes, Of the three war time hymn tunes, it should be mentioned that A Hymn
where the melody functions as a processional for the chorus in the of Freedom appeared with both text and tune in this journal, No. 22
Parabasis section. ABINGER stretches the hymn tune genre somewhat October, 2001. Mr. Hill, just mentioned in the above paragraph kindly
in that its text is nationalistic in the best sense of the word and its melodic supplied me with photo copies of this hymn and A Call to the Free
range is wider than most hymn tunes, middle C to treble-top-line F. Sir Nations. I have not seen, however, The Airman’s Hymn.
Cecil Spring-Rice’s text, The Two Fatherlands appears to have prompted
or inspired RVW to name his tune after the country parish of Abinger This list represents an interesting body of miniature compositions. Close
which includes part of Leith Hill where RVW’s ancestral home is located. analytical scrutiny to these short works yields to the observer many
RVW also composed music, including the anthem, O How Amiable interesting musical techniques carried out by Vaughan Williams.
(1934) for the Abinger Pagent, collaborating with E.M. Forester. Manuscript sources appear to be in existence for some but not all of the
MANTEGNA is one of RVW’s most poignant hymn tunes, setting hymn tunes. Whether interesting observations could be made from
Sidney Lanier’s, The Ballad of the Trees and the Master to melody and manuscript study where possible, is still a question, at least to me at this
harmony coloured by the Phrygian mode. This tune is named after time. In any case, I am not aware of any great twentieth century composer
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506, the greatest north Italian fresco painter of other than Vaughan Williams who devoted such care and skill to the
his time whose painting Agony in the Garden is preserved in the museum “humble” hymn tune. The result is that some of Vaughan Williams’s
at Tours. WHITE GATES is a straight forward tune in the Aeolian mode hymn tunes are among the very finest in all of Christian hymnody.
HYMN TUNE DESCANTS

set to a text with another unusual meter, 88.83. The tune is named after
RVW’s home in Dorking. John Barr
Bridgewater, VA, USA
PART 1: 1915-1934
Clark Kimberling, University of Evansville
" This article reproduced with the kind permission of The Hymn Society, from their July 2003 edition of The Hymn."
curious impression of an ethereal choir joining in the worship below; and
U
nder Descant, the world’s most extensive music dictionary 1
offers only two words: See DISCANT. Turning to Discant those who hear it for the first time often turn and look up at the roof!”
(from dis + cantus, to “sing apart”), we find “A type of medieval Riley continues, 6 “The French faux-bourdon is not really harmony, it is
polyphony, characterized by essentially note-against-note, contrary rather the embellishment by discant of unisonal singing and, as such, a
movement between the voices…”. There is no mention of hymntune device of a very high artistic value.” He then gives as an example the tune
descants, and under hymn, we find a wealth of ancient and modern COELITES PLAUDANT. This same example is reproduced here (Figure
hymntune lore, but again, no mention of hymntune descants. What a 1) from Riley’s 1916 collection. 7 “At the third or fourth verse the faux-
surprise, during an era of increasing popularity of descants! Among bourdon part should be added by half a dozen boys’ voices, more or less,
influential American hymnals, for example, Hymnal 1940 contains no according to the volume of the unisonal singing.”
descants, whereas Hymnal 1982 contains more than thirty, 2 and current
editions of four Canadian hymnals offer more than forty descants each. Riley uses the older spelling discant in his 1915 publication, but descant
in the title of the 1916 collection. Perhaps this change marks Riley’s
The surprise deepens with the realization that the subject is “very recognition that the part sung by selected boys had, in England if not in
English” – Ralph Vaughan Williams himself composed descants – but France, developed beyond the bounds of fauxbourdon. 8 Riley
that the Oxford English Dictionary 3 has yet to include the hymntune distinguishes between “four-part faux-bourdons” and “two-part faux-
meaning of descant along with its many others. bourdons.” In four-part, the melody, in the tenor, is sung by all except the
boys, who sing the upper two parts. “The two-part faux-bourdons, or
The history of descants should be better known. The purpose of this two- descants, are to be treated somewhat differently.” That sentence shows
part article is to trace their emergence in England and spread to the that Riley’s meaning of descant is, to be precise, the part above the
United States and Canada, and to recognize individual descant composers melody in a two-part faux-bourdon. Thus, in Figure 1 and all other two-
and their contributions. part faux-bourdons in the 1916 collection, the designation “F.B.” is
synonymous with “descant”.
FAUXBOURDONS
In a chapter entitled “The French Ecclesiastical Melodies,” Athelstan Riley cites a “little-known book” 9 as a source of French four-part faux-
Riley 4 writes, “There is a peculiar kind of faux-bourdon 5 harmony, very bourdons. However, all but one of the two-part faux-bourdons, or
simple and yet very effective, which is often employed in France to descants, in Riley’s 1916 collection appear to have been composed by
embellish these ecclesiastical melodies. It consists of a single part above Englishmen. 10 In the absence of any earlier relevant publication with the
the melody sung by boys’ voices, whilst the rest of the choir and the words descant(s) or déchant(s) in its title, it appears that the publishing
congregation sing the melody in unison. The effect is thrilling; it gives the of hymntune descants originated in England. 11

Pocknee 14 was able to trace these melodies to French origins dating from
1666 to 1824. For example, COELITES PLAUDANT appeared in the
Rouen Antiphoner in 1728. Figure 2 shows this melody as sung in Rouen
after 1890. This must be the version used by Vaughan Williams and Croft
as a basis for their adaptations. (It seems strange that Pocknee’s version
differs somewhat from this one.)
FIGURE 2: COELITES PLAUDANT, from Paroissien Romain, Noté in

Plain-Chant, Rouen, 1890. Kindly provided by the Library of the
Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, West Yorkshire. The title page
of is dated July 30, 1900 and signed “J. B. Croft”.
No evidence was found that descants for melodies such as that in Figure
2 were ever printed in paroissiens between 1800 and 1914. Moreover,
Pocknee, in a section on “the manner in which these melodies were
performed,” mentions nothing like a descant. Perhaps future searching
will enable a confirmation of Riley’s assertion that some form of descant
was “often employed in France” in 1915. In any case, after 1915,
descants were certainly often employed in England!
In 1917, Geoffrey Shaw, who had composed eleven descants in Riley’s

1916 collection, published The Tenor Tune Book. 15 The popularity and
influence of this book are indicated by reprintings in 1918, 1921
(enlarged), 1924, and 1925, when Shaw published The Descant Hymn-
Tune Book. 16 In his 1917 Preface, Shaw writes:
The plan is simple: the well-known melody, which we have

been accustomed to see in the treble and to hear sung by
sopranos and by any others who cared to join in, is transferred
to the tenor. This gives us two alternative methods of treatment:
(1) The Tenor Tune may be accompanied by three vocal parts
(S.A.B.), thus making four-part harmony (preferably
unaccompanied); or
(2) The Tenor Tune may be sung by all the voices, with the
exception of a certain number of trebles, who will sing the
FIGURE 1: J. B. Croft’s descant-arrangement of COELITES descant, or top part, thus making two-part harmony with the
PLAUDANT. A different harmonization by Ralph Vaughan Williams is canto fermo. In this case the organ will play the four parts as
found in The English Hymnal (no. 242) and later hymnals. written. The “soloing” of the tenor part will often be effective.
In answer to the question, “Who composed the first hymntune descant?”, To summarize, in Shaw’s plan, methods (1) and (2) match Riley’s four-
possibly the answer is John Bonham Croft, whose name appears in part and two-part fauxbourdons. Between 1917 and 1925, it appears that
Figure 1. Riley writes as follows: 12 method (1) gave way to the modern hymntune descant, in which the
melody is in the soprano part and the descant is scored separately, above
The Rev. J. B. Croft, from 1889 to 1915 Priest-Organist of St. the soprano. An enlightening Preface to Geoffrey Shaw’s 1925 collection,
Matthew’s, Westminster, to whom we owe a great debt of is written by “H.G.”: 17 “Historians differ as to the original and precise
gratitude for having prominently brought the later music of the meaning of “descant” and its kindred term “faux-bourdon.” Probably the
French Church before the attention of our clergy and signification varied with certain countries and composers. To-day,
choirmasters in a practical form, has kindly allowed the however, a “descant” is generally understood to be a counter-theme sung
inclusion of two of his arrangements; others have been against the melody of a hymn or song; while the term “faux-bourdon” is
specially written for the collection by different composers. applied to a harmonized setting (usually in four parts) in which the
melody is given to the tenor.”
Riley’s description indicates that Croft’s two descants already existed at
the time that Riley asked for others. The description also suggests that H.G. continues, “Of the two forms, descant seems to be more generally
Croft may have published his own description of French “two-part faux- used than faux-bourdon, chiefly because it calls for less ample choral
bourdons.” However, the titles of Croft’s publications in The British means… Descant is by far the easier of the two methods… Descant is
Library catalogue have not led to the discovery of any such publication. also the more effective, as it allows of greater freedom not only in the
This is notable, considering the fact that Croft was well versed in the treble counter-theme, but also in the organ part. In fact, there appears to
French melodies of the sort that Vaughan Williams adapted for inclusion be no device in choral music that yields so striking a result in return for
in The English Hymnal. Although these melodies were printed in so little trouble.” In 1934, Geoffrey Shaw published another descant
plainsong notation in Vaughan Williams’s source-material, 13 they are not collection. 18 By then, the hymntune descant as we know it today, largely
authentic plainsong. In fact, their origin was little known during the half- through the publications of Geoffrey Shaw, had become firmly
century following Vaughan Williams’s work with them. In 1954, Cyril E. established at home and across the Atlantic.

Especially during the decade 1915-1925, the “catching on” of descants in for MORNING HYMN, WINCHESTER NEW, NUN DANKET,
England was closely associated with The English Hymnal. 19 Although no WAREHAM, and WILTSHIRE, along with numerous faburdens 30 and
descants are found in this famous hymnal itself, many were composed for original hymntunes, including LANGHAM (“Father eternal, Ruler of
use with its hymns, including the collections published by A. Riley and creation”).
G. Shaw, both of whom are well represented in the hymnal. Regarding
Riley, for example, the music editor of The English Hymnal wrote that he Geoffrey Shaw’s brother Martin composed fifty-three tunes in Songs of
sometimes found a good tune and needed somebody “to write suitable Praise (1931), including thirteen faburdens and the enduring tune
words,” hence “the origin of Athelstan Riley’s fine hymn Ye Watchers and PURPOSE (“God is working his purpose out”).
Ye Holy Ones…” 20
Songs of Praise (1931) includes, from Gray’s collection, descants to ten
TWO ENGLISH HYMNALS tunes: HEINLEIN, CHRISTCHURCH, OLD 104TH, NEANDER,
Ralph Vaughan Williams describes one of the most momentous ABERYSTWYTH, BUCKLEBURY, TANTUM ERGO (WEBBE),
interviews in the history of hymnology: 21 MOSCOW, DUKE STREET, and ORIEL.
It must have been in 1904 that I was sitting in my study in

Barton Street, Westminster, when a cab drove up to the door
and ‘Mr. Dearmer’ was announced… He went straight to the
point and asked me to edit the music of a hymn book. I
protested that I knew very little about hymns 22 but he explained
to me that Cecil Sharp had suggested my name… and the final
clench was given when I understood that if I did not do the job
it would be offered to a well-known Church musician with
whose musical ideas I was much out of sympathy. At this
opening interview Dearmer told me that the new book was
being sponsored by a committee of eight clerics who were
dissatisfied with the new Hymns Ancient and Modern… He
told me that these eight founders had put down five pounds
each for expenses, and that my part of the work would probably
take about two months.
I thought it over for twenty-four hours and then decided to
accept, but I found the work occupied me two years and that
my bill for clerical expenses alone came to about two hundred
and fifty pounds. The truth is that I determined to do the work
thoroughly, and that, besides being a compendium of all the
tunes of worth that were already in use, the book should, in
addition, be a thesaurus of all the finest hymn tunes in the
world…”
During the two years that Vaughan Williams was working on The English
Hymnal, he was rapidly becoming a renowned collector and arranger of
English folk tunes. Some of the best of these found their way into the
hymnal and are now, nearly a century later, treasured around the world.
In his Musical Autobiography, 23 Vaughan Williams wrote that his “two
years of close association with some of the best (as well as some of the
worst) tunes in the world was a better musical education than any amount FIGURE 3. Vaughan Williams’s descant to HELMSLEY, from Songs of
of sonatas and fugues.” Praise, 1931, © Oxford University Press. Used by permission. All rights
reserved. Vaughan Williams’s accompaniment (slightly altered) of
The year 1924 found Vaughan Williams working on a new hymnal, of HELMSLEY appears in many hymnals; e.g., The United Methodist
which he and Martin Shaw were the music editors. “For this Ralph Hymnal, 1989, no. 718.
decided that no second-bests and no compromises should go in, and his
net was cast even more widely than it had been for the first edition of The FIGURE 4. Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1902,
English Hymnal.” 25 The new hymnal, Songs of Praise, contains descants from Michael Kennedy, Ralph Vaughan
composed by Vaughan Williams, two in the first edition, and a third in the Williams, London: Oxford University Press,
second edition, dated 1931. The first two are for the tunes CRÜGER 1964. © Oxford University Press. Used by
(“Hail to the Lord’s Anointed!”) and EVENTIDE (“Abide with me; fast permission. All rights reserved.
falls the eventide”). The third is a melismatic descant (Figure 3) to
HELMSLEY, 26 a tune once described as “probably the greatest musical
achievement of Methodism.” 27
Between the years 1906 and 1925 of the first editions of hymnals of
which Vaughan Williams was music editor, there appeared a particularly
influential collection of 150 descants. 28 The composer, Alan Gray, had
been Vaughan Williams’s organ teacher at Cambridge University. 29 FIGURE 5. Athelstan Riley, from Jo Park,
Athelstan Riley: Patron of St. Petroc Minor,
The relationship of the two hymnals to the early history of hymntune Little Petherick, Truro, 1982.
descants can be summarized as follows. The English Hymnal of 1906
greatly promoted the composing and singing of new and musically
excellent hymn tunes; the fact that this hymnal did not include descants
prompted the composing of separate descant collections as early as 1916.
Several of these descants (and fauxbourdons) were published again in
1925, in Songs of Praise. This hymnal is the earliest to contain a
substantial number of descants. Among them are five by Geoffrey Shaw,

FIGURE 6. Geoffrey Shaw, from Martin Shaw, Notes

Up to Now, London: Oxford University Press, 1 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, Stanly Sadie, ed., 29
volumes (London: Macmillan, 2001).
1929. © Oxford University Press. Used by 2 Hymnals of The Episcopal Church (New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation).
permission. All rights reserved. 3 The Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, Stanly Sadie, ed., 20 volumes (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1989).
4 Athelstan Riley, Concerning Hymn Tunes and Sequences (London: A. R. Mowbray,
1915) 36.
5 For details, see the articles on Fauxbourdon and Faburden in The New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians (note 1).
6 Riley (note 4) 37.
7 Athelstan Riley, A Collection of Faux-bourdons and Descants (London: A. R. Mowbray,
1916) xiv.
8 An indication of this is Riley’s footnote (p. xii): “The musical critic will notice that the
musicians responsible for the faux-bourdons in this Collection are not wholly in accord as
to how far the strict rules of counterpoint and harmony should be observed. Each has
FIGURE 7. Alan Gray, from Cambridgeshire carefully considered the question, and is responsible for his own composition.”
Collection, Cambridge Central Library. Used 9 Alfred Delaporte, Recueil de Faux-bourdons à quatre parties, avec accompagnement
d’orgue (Angers, France, 1874). Delaporte was Maître de Chapelle de la Cathédrale
by permission. d’Angers.
10 The composers’ names are as follows: Maurice Frederick Bell, Paul Béral, J. B. Croft, A.
Delaporte (adapted), R. S. Edwards, George Gardner, Harvey Grace, W. M. Howitt, H. J.
Halton, Geoffrey Shaw, and Royle Shore. Riley identifies several of these in his
Introduction, including Monsieur Paul Béral, whose descant to LUCIS CREATOR
appears on page 15. It appears that Béral composed the descant specifically for Riley’s
collection. In any case, there appears to be no independent French development of
hymntune descants. One of the composers, Archdeacon George Gardner wrote, in
response to a review of Riley’s Collection, that improved hymn-singing with occasional
descants, could “often come to be regarded as the most artistically satisfying part of a
service.” The review, response, and an editor’s note appear in The Musical Times, October
1, 1916, p. 456, and November 1, 1916, p. 504.
11 The search included the online catalogues of the national libraries of Britain, Canada,
It is noteworthy that neither of the Shaw brothers, nor Vaughan Williams France, and the United States.
nor Gray, included a descant with one of his own hymntunes. Gustav 12 Riley (note 7) xiii.
13 “Ecclesiastical melodies from the paroissiens of various French uses (chiefly those of
Holst, however, composed HILL CREST with a descant, with copyright Rouen and Angers)”, as stated in the Preface of The English Hymnal. The two melodies
date 1928 indicated in Songs of Praise. to which Croft wrote descants, published in Riley (note 7), are COELITES PLAUDANT
and ST. VENANTIUS; Vaughan Williams’s harmonizations of these in The English
Hymnal are numbered 38 and 242.
FROM 1926 TO 1934 14 Cyril E. Pocknee, The French Diocesan Hymns and Their Melodies (London: The Faith
The descant collections of Geoffrey Shaw and Alan Gray have already Press, 1954). Page 24 shows a chart of sources for twenty-four melodies and the page
been mentioned. Both collections were repeatedly reprinted and are numbers on which their adaptations appear in The English Hymnal.
15 Geoffrey Shaw, The Tenor Tune Book, A collection of Descants Old and New, the former
represented in modern hymnals; indeed, possibly Gray’s name is listed as taken from the Old Psalters, the New Settings by Harvey Grace, Rev. H. V. Hughes, Rev.
the composer for a greater number of descants in hymnals that any other Hugh R. Norton, Geoffrey Shaw, Martin Shaw, and C. À. Becket Williams (London: The
name. Among several other collections published in England before 1934 Faith Press, 1917). This may be the earliest descant collection for hymntunes not of
French origin. The titular “Descants Old” are essentially four-part fauxbourdons, not
are those of Thomas Hanforth 31 (1867-1948), Organist and Master of the hymntune descants.
Choir, Sheffield Cathedral. By 1934, several collections had also been 16 Geoffrey Shaw, The Descant Hymn-Tune Book (London: Novello, 1925).
published in Canada and the United States. 17 Possibly Harvey Grace; see notes 10 and 15.
18 Geoffrey Shaw, Thirty-Six Descants (with accompaniments) For use with the English
In 1926, Healey Willan (1880-1968) composed a four-part refrain to THE Hymnal (London: Oxford University Press, 1934).
19 The English Hymnal (London: Oxford University Press, 1906). On page xix, Vaughan
FIRST NOWELL which appears in several modern hymnals. 32 The top Williams writes that “He also wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the Rev. J. B.
part is marked Descant, but possibly Willan did not intend it as such. Croft, who has kindly placed his great knowledge and experience of French ecclesiastical
melodies at his service.”
In 1931, a collection 33 was published in the United States. The composer, 20 Ursula Vaughan Williams, R. V. W., A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams (London:
Peter Lutkin (1858-1931) was born in Wisconsin of parents born in Oxford University Press, 1964) 71. © Oxford University Press. Used by permission. All
rights reserved.
Denmark. Lutkin was the first Dean of the School of Music at 21 Quoted from Ursula Vaughan Williams (note 20) 70-71.
Northwestern University and one of the founders of the American Guild 22 As Robin A. Leaver points out, Vaughan Williams writes rhetorically – he certainly did
of Organists. know about hymns! Leaver’s highly recommended essay, “British Hymnody, 1900-1950,”
appears in Raymond F. Glover, The Hymnal 1982 Companion, 4 volumes (New York: The
In 1933, Alfred Whitehead (1887-1974) published a collection. Born in Church Hymnal Corporation, 1990). The essay appears in vol. 1, pages 474-504.
23 Printed as Chapter 3 in Hubert Foss, Ralph Vaughan Williams (New York: Oxford
Peterborough, England, Whitehead moved to Canada in 1912. He served University Press, 1950) 34.
as organist, choirmaster, and teacher in Truro and Amherst in Nova 24 Ursula Vaughan Williams (note 20) 157.
Scotia, and Sherbrooke and Montreal in Quebec. 25 Songs of Praise (London: Oxford University Press, 1925; enlarged edition, 1931).
26 Vaughan Williams calls HELMSLEY “The magnificently solemn tune for which Wesley
wrote ‘Lo, he comes’” in his contribution, “Some Reminiscences of The English Hymnal,”
CONCLUSION pages 2-6, in The First Fifty Years: A Brief Account of The English Hymnal from 1906
Descants were used with ancient plainsong. After falling into disuse for to 1956 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956). In this essay, Vaughan Williams also
writes that “[Athelstan] Riley had a large knowledge of ecclesiastical music, and used to
centuries, they suddenly and sweepingly appeared in a new form, come round often to my house to go through proofs, or suggest new tunes. He arrived on
nowadays called simply “descants” but sometimes called “hymntune a beautiful white horse which he deputed a young relative of mine, a boy of about ten, to
descants” in order to distinguish them from the earlier kind. Another way hold while he discussed hymns with me.”
27 Quoted in Clark Kimberling, “Tunes Lost and Found: HELMSLEY, LEEDS,
to distinguish between the two is to use the spelling “discants” for the YORKSHIRE, WEDNESBURY,” The Hymn 52, no. 2 (April 2001) 25-36.
earlier. 28 Alan Gray, A Book of Descants (New York: Oxford University Press, 1926), first
published in 1920.
In 1915, Athelstan Riley introduced descants into England. Five years 29 Alan Gray became organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1892, the same year that
later, Alan Gray, introduced his very influential collection 35 with this Vaughan Williams entered Trinity College and began studying organ under Gray. After
two years, Gray, with regard to Vaughan Williams’s “going in for an organist’s career
sentence, “An interesting adaptation of the medieval arts of Descant and which is his pet idea,” writes “He seems to me so hopelessly ‘unhandy’”. (Quoted in
Faux-Bourdon has been introduced into this country in the last few Ursula Vaughan Williams (note 20) p. 41). In his Musical Autobiography (Foss, note 26,
years.” Riley describes, as a basis for the adaptation, a French “two-part p. 36), Vaughan Williams writes, “Our friendship survived his despair at my playing…”
30 See note 5.
faux-bourdon” – a part sung by selected boys above the melody. 31 Thomas William Hanforth, The Sheffield Cathedral Descants (York: Banks & Son, 1927,
However, confirmation of this precursor remains to be found. 1932). These collections are available from Banks Music Publications. The two volumes
(1927 and 1932) contain a total of thirty-six descants.
By 1934, many descant collections had appeared in England, not only for 32 For Willan’s refrain, marked Descant, see, for example, Common Praise (Toronto:
hymns, but also for national songs and for use in schools. In North Anglican Book Centre, 1998), No. 139.
33 Peter Christian Lutkin, Descants on Familiar Hymns (Chicago: H. T. FitzSimons, 1931).
America, descant-composing and singing was off to a start, and a new 34 Alfred Ernest Whitehead, Eighteen Faux-bourdons and Descants for Well-known Hymn
generation of composers was coming along. Tunes (New York: Carl Fischer, 1933).
35 From the Preface to Gray’s collection (note 28).

Memories of RVW
from the 1930s to the 1950s

by John Gordon Clark
In her biography of her husband Ursula Vaughan Williams gives us many St Martin’s church and my mother was in the choir. I was present at one
details of the deep friendships that he developed over his long life. But of these, the first time I had heard the work. I was bowled over by it, the
beyond those who were really close there was a multitude of others who final chorus remaining especially in my mind for months afterwards.
could claim a more distant, yet very tangible relationship. Some were
families who lived near him in the Dorking area, such as my own, and My next contact with RVW was early in 1948. I had left school and was
many more were enthusiastic choral singers and amateur awaiting call-up for National Service. For some reason this was delayed
instrumentalists. I believe we all regarded him as a friend, a friendship and I was fortunate that the three months grace I was given coincided
forged through his tireless work in the locality, through the Leith Hill exactly with the rehearsals and performance of the St Matthew Passion,
Festival, and through the many issues, such as the Jewish refugees whom by that time an annual event. RVW was a very strict choral trainer, and I
he helped find homes and work in the area. learned more in those months about singing than I had over many years
in school choirs. On his arrival, he would first of all shed his muffler,
My family’s relationship with RVW definitely dated back to the 1920s overcoat and jacket, gradually divesting himself of one cardigan after
and perhaps even earlier. As an example of the warmth of his friendship, another as the rehearsal went on. More often than not, his opening words,
RVW composed an organ piece for my uncle’s marriage in the mid 1930s after a benevolently fierce look at us all, were ‘turn to page 105’. In our
to Barbara Lawrence, a member of another Surrey family that knew him vocal score this meant the brief but fiendishly difficult chorus He is guilty
well. The work was based on her new initials ‘BGC.’ My mother, who of death. After several rather feeble attempts, he would glare round at us
came to England from New Zealand as a bride in 1923, immediately and, addressing the ladies of the choir, would ask them to forget their well
joined two Leith Hill choirs (in different divisions) and sang at Festivals brought-up background and imagine themselves a mob screaming for
for 30 years or more, thus getting to know RVW through choral singing. blood. The resulting transformation brought a gruff nod of acceptance at
their efforts.
The first time I was conscious of RVW was in the summer of 1938. The
occasion was the dress rehearsal of a pageant, England’s Green and Within weeks I was in the Army, though soon in hospital from an
Pleasant Land, written by EM Forster, which was staged in the grounds accident. I read that RVW’s 6th Symphony was to receive its premiere on
of Milton Court, between Dorking and Westcott. RVW was responsible the 21st April 1948 and was to be broadcast. Somehow I persuaded my
for the music. I remember well the excitement of the day, especially for fellow patients to allow me to listen to it on the ward radio. It was an
my sister who rode her pony in one of the scenes, but cannot recall a experience of a lifetime and, for me, this work is RVW’s finest
single thing about the story. My main abiding memory was of RVW achievement.
directing the music. He seemed to me then, aged 9, a rather forbidding
and dominating figure. After returning to civilian life in 1950 I became active in the Leith Hill
Festival, singing in Mickleham choir under Margery Cullen (then also
In 1940, with invasion threatening, my father, then an officer in the Home Secretary to the Festival) and also turning over for the continuo player,
Guard, was ordered to take charge of volunteers to fill sandbags. It was Arnold Goldsborough, at Festival concerts. It was at Christmas of that
something of an irony that the venue chosen was the sandpit in the car year that I paid my one and only visit to White Gates. My father’s
park behind the Dorking Halls, the scene of so many events connected Christmas tribute to RVW was a bottle of Cherry Brandy, a drink he
with the composer. At the appointed time, on a Saturday morning when much enjoyed, and I accompanied him on this occasion of the annual
many could be expected to turn up, just one volunteer appeared. My presentation. My memories of the visit are still crystal clear. We went into
father watched with concern the approach of RVW, then in his late his large study, and my first impression was a great number of untidy
sixties, and immediately excused him on the grounds of his age, piles of manuscripts. However, I was soon made very much aware of the
suggesting that he had more important things to do than such menial still figure of his wife, Adeline, lying on a raised sofa near the window.
work. RVW’s response was typical. It was to the effect that the situation She was clearly very ill – indeed she died only a few months later. It was
was so grave that he had no heart for composition, and that all he could the first time I had seen anyone so thin and frail, and I came away feeling
offer the country was physical work – which he then insisted on sorrowful and shocked. As for RVW himself, he was his usual charming
performing for several hours. This attitude was in line with his later self, and full of graceful thanks for the present.
efforts, one example of which was going from door to door collecting
scrap metal for the war effort. On one occasion he was apparently At this time I was also a member of the Bach Choir, and in one
rebuffed at the front door with the words: ‘Tradesmen round at the back!’ memorable week sang in two of its performances of the St Matthew
Passion on succeeding Sundays, and in RVW’s performance in Dorking
In her biography Ursula Vaughan Williams records RVW’s efforts to on the intervening Saturday. The contrast between Reginald Jaques’
maintain music making in Dorking as the war entered its worst phase in classical approach and RVW’s dramatic one was enormous. My score
late 1940. He arranged for local and London professionals, together with still bears the colour-coded expression marks to distinguish between the
as many singers from town and village choirs as were available, to two interpretations.
prepare for two performances of The Messiah around Christmas of that
year. I had heard the work nearly two years earlier and had studied the I saw RVW only twice more after moving to London on my marriage in
soprano line of the vocal score since. As result my mother asked RVW 1956. These were the first London performances of the 8th and 9th
whether he would allow me to take part. His response was typically brief Symphonies, which my wife and I attended. Our emotions on those
– just four words: ‘ Does he know it?’ My mother assured him I did. The occasions were very mixed. On the one hand there was the joy that RVW
experience made the deepest impression on me. Here was I, aged 11, in was still composing magnificent music. On the other great sadness that
my Eton suit, standing on the steps of the pulpit of St Martin’s church in he was nearing the end of his life.
Dorking, singing the sublime music of one great composer under the
baton of another. It would be interesting to discover whether any readers It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to have known RVW,
of the Journal also sang, or perhaps attended, one of these very moving even slightly, and even more to have actually sung under his baton. I also
performances at such a perilous moment in our country’s history. have two physical reminders of him that I treasure – an autographed score
Two years later, in March 1942, RVW mounted the first performances of of the 6th Symphony and a signed copy of the famous photo of him with
his abridged version of the St Matthew Passion. These too were given in his cat.

Book Reviews
Lionel Pike, Vaughan Williams and the Symphony ‘Introduction’ argues that the symphonies have been ‘seriously
(Toccata Press, 2003) 352pp, hard back, £45. misjudged’ and attacks the notion that RVW was ‘something of a country
bumpkin who somehow managed to write three great symphonies – the
middle ones – in spite of himself.’ (7) Acknowledging the validity of
discussing early drafts of the music, Pike declares that his focus is firmly
on the finished works, and in particular on the principles of their
construction.
In a short ‘Preface’ Pike lays out some of the basic issues and context for
the discussion and appreciation of the symphonies. This section (13-22)
is good in its own right, especially for students and listeners wanting to
understand some of the theory that underpins RVW’s music. It recounts
RVW’s break with the German tradition, his return to native English
sources such as folk music, hymns, and the Tudor and Stuart composers,
and provides several pages of explanation of modes, citing examples of
their use in the symphonies and in the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas
Tallis. Pike identifies a pentatonic three-note figure which occurs
throughout RVW’s music, which he dubs the ‘knight’s move’: ‘It is the
three-note phrase in which a step is followed by a leap of a third in the
same direction, or a leap of a third is followed by a step in the same
direction … for example D-E-G, G-E-D, D-F-G or G-F-D’ (14). This
phrase is referred to throughout the book. The ‘Preface’ also touches on
sonata form and fugue, concluding with the statement that RVW’s
preference for Bach over Beethoven affected his music.
Each of the symphonies has its own chapter, with clear sub-divisions
covering the individual movements. Of A Sea Symphony Pike argues that
‘in some instances the musical and literary requirements are at odds’ (29)
and cleverly reminds us that RVW’s famous exchange with George
Butterworth about writing a symphony, where RVW replied that he
‘never had written a symphony and never intended to’ (28), happened
after A Sea Symphony was completed and performed, suggesting that
RVW himself didn’t consider it a symphony in the ‘proper’ sense. Pike
finishes this chapter with, ‘A conflict between programme music and less
This is the second volume in Toccata Press’ ‘Symphonic Studies’ series illustrative types of writing, such as is evident in A Sea Symphony, is
(the first was about Schubert) and is a welcome addition to the literature found again and again in Vaughan Williams’s later symphonies.’ (45) He
on the music which is for many the core of Vaughan Williams’s takes this up in chapter 2, in a brief discussion of the programmatic
achievement. RVW’s cycle has a strong claim to be the finest set of details in A London Symphony and Albert Coates’ 1920 notes on it.
symphonies written by a British composer, and judging by the number of
versions available on CD must be one of the most popular. Yet the Pike writes, ‘A London Symphony is an enormous advance technically on
symphonies remain under-performed in our concert halls and until the previous one, with a sense of growth and a logic that is much clearer.
recently they have received little attention in the way of scholarly studies. In addition, the national roots of English folksong are the basis of his
style in a much more consistent way; the musical language grows more
To my knowledge Lionel Pike’s new book is only the second full-length obviously out of it’ (48). But he ends with the observation that ‘it falls
study of RVW’s symphonies. The first was The Symphonies of Ralph short of the highest rank, except in its opening movement … the unifying
Vaughan Williams by Elliott S. Schwarz (1964). Schwartz wrote his devices feel rather as if they had been imposed on the work at some stage
pioneering book with the purpose of calling attention to the symphonies rather than growing logically with it’. (74-75) From these judgements it
as ‘worthy of intensive study’, a view obviously shared by Lionel Pike. is evident that Pike has a well-defined notion of what a symphony should
Schwartz also made the important claim that RVW’s achievement ‘was to truly be (rather like Robert Simpson in his well-known Pelican book).
bring England back into the mainstream of musical composition. English
composers of later generations, such as Walton, Rubbra and Britten, who Pike writes of the Pastoral Symphony that it has ‘consistently been
carried this fusion further, produced the mature works that can only undervalued and misunderstood’, and quotes Philip Heseltine and Sir
develop in a nation with a symphonic tradition. Vaughan Williams, Hugh Allen’s ignominious comments about it (did a symphony ever draw
almost single-handedly, gave England this tradition.’ Apart from such inane remarks as these?). Pike sees the symphony as an exploration
Schwartz, there has been Hugh Ottaway’s short guide to the symphonies of the musical possibilities of the interval of a third, treating the idea
(BBC Books 1972, reprinted several times) which is very useful in its ‘with a searing logic that never loses sight of its central material … it is
own way, and Alain Frogley’s recent study of the ninth symphony. Hardly the first of his mature symphonies … There is nothing quite like this
a crowded shelf! symphony in twentieth-century music: it remains utterly fresh and
unique.’ (105).
Interesting as Schwartz’s book is, Lionel Pike’s is in another league
altogether, being longer, more detailed, having the advantage of the past The discussion of the Fourth Symphony is prefaced by some interesting
30 years research, and being more sophisticated a discussion. The contextual references to music in the early 1930s and Bax, to whom the

symphony was dedicated, and the discussion of its fourth movement in the treacherous North Sea. Their father, William had by that time
advances the controversial idea that RVW was having sardonic fun with already lost two of his sons, when his boat the Susannah had been sunk.
Beethoven’s Fifth, and develops this into more comments about The fact that RVW was able to meet the brothers at all on this visit, was
Beethoven and symphonic logic. When Pike reaches the Fifth it is good due to the prevailing sea conditions. Although their small boats ventured
to see that he entertains the idea that the opening pages of the symphony no more than a couple of miles offshore, the weather that week meant that
are C Lydian. It is fascinating that the ‘Romanza’ contains at its moment a launch from the beach was too dangerous. Fortunately for RVW, the
of crisis, a few bars before Section 9 in the score, the melodic three-note Hurr brothers were able to contribute thirteen songs, including Lovely
phrase (Ab-G-E) which opens the Sixth and is found in the Seventh. Why Joan, in fact, more than three quarters of the entire collection.
was Vaughan Williams so enthralled by this motif?
It may come as a surprise to learn that RVW, like other collectors, did not
Of course, a study such as this is written by treating the symphonies as a usually note down all the verses to a song, which often extended to over
linear sequence. Such a model is understandable given the advances in a dozen. Having written down the tune, often a couple of verses then
technique that a composer makes through gaining experience, not to sufficed. Chris Coe and EATMT therefore had to research the popular
mention the obvious parallel of living through time. The linear sequence broadsheets of the day to obtain additional verses.
easily accrues to itself the idea that the sequence is necessarily toward
greater profundity. This is Ottaway’s view when he states that the Sixth The book is full of information about the visit, and the singers. It includes
‘not only negated the Fifth but supplanted it as a definitive statement.’ the vocal line of the songs, with the full text and information on how it
This is a very questionable assumption and one that has caused the Fifth was acquired. There are also some delightful photographs of the Hurrs as
to be under-valued. well as views of the town as RVW would have seen it. It can be obtained
from EATMT at 44, Old Haughley Street, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14
Perhaps it is occasionally useful to think about the symphonies with a 3NX. Tel: 01449 771090. The price is £6 including UK postage and
different metaphor, as the spokes of a wheel in the centre of which is the packing and well worth it for what is an unusual and indeed fascinatingly
composer’s creativity. This is relevant to the Fifth because it seems to me different book about RVW.
the Fifth is easily under-valued by being falsely described as ‘serene’ and
‘tranquil’ (nothing serene or tranquil could move us so much), and John Treadway
because its very beauty (and the spiritual vision from which it springs and
to which it points) has been seen to be somehow negated or trumped by
the Sixth and Seventh – with the implication that they are more ‘mature’. Blyth Voices - some further comments
This plays straight to the assumption, dominant for the past 50 years, that Folk songs collected in Southwold by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1910.
conflict in art is necessarily more profound than beauty. Published by East Anglian Traditional Music Trust (44 Old Haughley
Street, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 3NX) (ISBN 0-9545943-0-4) £6.00
The book is illustrated throughout with musical examples, and plenty of
intriguing and entertaining footnote references. Pike does not have a
thematic argument to push in the way that Wilfred Mellers had in
Vaughan Williams and the Vision of Albion, instead concentrating on the
symphonies and their musical processes. Even if you read the opening
and closing sections on each of the symphonies, and merely dip into the
rest of the musical analyses, you will find this a rewarding book. Lionel
Pike has made a substantial contribution to our appreciation of Vaughan
Williams’s symphonic achievement.
Rikky Rooksby
Blyth Voices : Folk songs collected in Southwold

Moving from the London end of Essex to Suffolk in retirement, is hardly
entering a musical wilderness. Apart from the vastly increased Aldeburgh
output with events now taking place throughout the year, there are also
many inviting concert venues arranged in historic buildings and local
churches. The down side is that RVW’s music is not normally well
represented here, partly I believe because of the legacy of Britten, whose
perception of the established composers of the early twentieth century
was often less than complimentary.
Imagine my delight when I discovered that the East Anglian Traditional

Musical Trust had planned a celebration of RVW’s visit with George
Butterworth to Southwold in 1910. On a wonderfully sunny Saturday
evening early in July, the Blyth Voices together with the folk singer Chris
Coe, performed some of the songs the composers had collected, to a
delighted audience in St Edmund’s Hall. As Chris explained, the words
of these songs often focus on the harsh and seamy side of life; what she Congratulations to Blyth Valley Voices and all those involved in creating
dubbed ‘sex and wrecks’. Certainly within this short collection, there is an Exhibition and this booklet describing RVW’s and George
violent death, foiled seduction and a cuckolded husband! Human nature Butterworth’s visit to Southwold in 1910. Fourteen songs are published
hasn’t changed that much. What was once the currency of the folk singer in full with notes on the visit to Southwold. It is an informative and
has now become the focus of the soaps and the tabloid press. affectionate account. It seems that bad weather prevented the fishing
boats from putting to sea during the visit, such that Vaughan Williams
To accompany the event, EATMT has produced a delightful book entitled was able to jot down those songs which might otherwise have
‘Blyth Voices’ which contains all the folk songs collected during that disappeared.
October in 1910. The two friends had travelled into the area by train and
then took to bicycles to take them on to Southwold. During the two day Well illustrated, this booklet will give much pleasure to those interested
visit, their attention was drawn to the three Hurr brothers who were in VW’s folk song collecting.
fishermen, descended from a large local family going back generations.
Theirs was a hard and dangerous life, fishing for herring, sprats and sole Stephen Connock.

Concert Reviews
Mayor of Cambridge's Charity Concert, Cambridge Philharmonic Dawson, soprano, sang expressively, at once capturing the melancholy
Society, West Road concert hall, Cambridge Saturday 6 December. mood and plight of the Agnus Dei. The choir added their forces
effectively and dramatically, and the second movement was a chilling
The Cambridge Philharmonic Society's concert for the Mayor of evocation of the havoc and disruption of war. Reconciliation could have
Cambridge's charity appeal on 6 December featured Flos Campi with the done with a greater feeling of tenderness - unfortunately the scheduled
Mayor himself, a paid-up performing member of the Society, singing in baritone, Roderick Williams, was indisposed, and Ian Caddy stood in,
the chorus. A welcome development indeed. giving a slightly disappointing rendition of his part. He came across as
rather lethargic, a little lacking in passion and expression. The Dirge for
The Society's chorus and orchestra were under a guest conductor: Two Veterans was well-paced and vivid, with some extremely lyrical
Michael Lloyd, who has had wide experience in Germany as well as in playing in the string section effectively contrasting the exuberance of the
this country. He clearly, quickly and deservedly gained the respect - and percussion, and the fifth movement was most compelling, with the
the applause - of audience, chorus and orchestra alike. soaring soprano pleas "dona nobis pacem" breaking in atmospherically.
Overall, it was a pleasing performance of this moving and exhilarating
The programme opened with a fine, broad and well-shaped performance work, proficiently conducted by Davan Wetton. Dawson and the COLC,
of Smetana's Vltava This was notable particularly for some beautifully although slightly drowned out by the orchestra on occasion (and the
balanced wood-wind and string playing and a stunning climax as the river words were not always satisfactorily audible), did their best to convey the
finally flows majestically past the legendary Vysehrad rock in Prague. ardent and impassioned spirit of the piece, a timeless and universal theme
- an anguished entreaty for peace.
Flos Campi, so highly characteristic of its Protean composer and so
perplexing to early audiences, was most moving. The taxing solo viola Em Marshall
part was sensitively performed by Claire Finnemore, whose rapt, warm,
intimate tone and complete technical control were matched by some alert Original version of Vaughan Williams's London Symphony
and eloquent playing from the orchestra, especially the principal oboe, Barbican 4th November 2003
and some highly evocative, rhythmically flexible singing from the
wordless chorus. Their dynamic range was fantastic. I remember a former The evening we have all been long waiting for - it is a rare treat indeed
poet laureate in his undergraduate days referring to a piece of music as to hear a work by a great composer that has been out of the public
'orgasmic'. Flos Campi is certainly that; and the Phil's committed repertoire for over ninety years, so what a magnificent occasion when
performance under Mr Lloyd interpreted it as such. It is one of RVW's that is twinned with the first hearing of the original version of a major
most personal and highly-charged works and one doesn't encounter it all English symphony for 85 years! High expectations were most certainly
that often 'live'. Ms Finnemore and the Phil deserve full marks for not disappointed, and indeed months of anticipation were well rewarded.
demonstrating such insight into and subtle command of its wide range of
moods. The concert, held in the Barbican on Tuesday 4th November, commenced
with Vaughan Williams's Second Norfolk Rhapsody. This charming work
Shostakovich Five, after the interval, is a severe technical challenge for had only ever received a couple of performances directly after its
any orchestra and Mr Lloyd and the Phil went at it with all guns blazing, composition in 1906 and has lain unperformed since, due to the loss of
paying careful attention to the structure of the music as well as its two pages of the manuscript. A reconstruction by Stephen Hogger for a
emotional content. Playing of such blazing intensity and overwhelming Chandos recording has enabled it to be heard in the concert hall once
power from a non-professional orchestra left one in no doubt (a) of the more. As in his first Norfolk Rhapsody, the work is based around folk
starkness and irony of the music and (b) of the commitment and sense of songs, in this case Young Henry the Poacher, Spurn Point, and The Saucy
style of the orchestra. Even the bleak, remote exposed passages in the Bold Robber. The LSO played beautifully under Hickox, creating a
upper strings 'told': there was tension as well as clarity and a fine sense tender, lush tone in Spurn Point and a lively energy in the concluding The
of melodic line in the sound, even if the actual tone was sometimes a little Saucy Bold Robber.
strained. As for the more menacing, deliberately vulgar and frenetic
passages, they were such as to rouse the audience to a veritable and well- Ravel's Piano Concerto ensued, presumably included in the programme
deserved frenzy of applause at the close of a memorable concert. on account of his once-coaching of Vaughan Williams, and was the only
disappointment in the entire evening. It was shame enough not to have
James Day another piece of English music separating rhapsody from symphony, but
a slightly dismaying performance alienated the work further from the
Dona Nobis Pacem concert at the Barbican, revelatory Vaughan Williams. Although the LSO and Hickox were still on
Monday 3rd November 2003 top form, the soloist Andreas Haefliger's rather pedestrian playing lacked
sensitivity and flair and made the work seem even more out of place.
In a Remembrance Day programme of "War and Peace", Beethoven's
Egmont Overture opened the concert, providing an element of jubilation The performance of Vaughan Williams's original version of the London
and triumphant heroism, and Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli ensued, Symphony - last heard live in 1918, and finally sanctioned by Ursula for
with its sense of faith and optimism to perhaps balance the sombre the world to hear once more - was magical, exhilarating and exciting. The
desolation and stark beauty of the main featured work, Dona Nobis version usually performed is the third of Vaughan Williams’s revisions
Pacem. Hilary Davan Wetton was conducting one of his own choirs - the and was published as the "official" version in 1936. The original version
City of London Choir, here celebrating their 40th birthday, and the Royal dates back to 1913 although a letter to Cecil Sharp in 1911 suggests that
Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Barbican. Both the Beethoven and the Vaughan Williams may already have been working on it some time. He
Haydn were admirably performed, although the choir could have appears to have felt that the original work was too programmatic and
produced a little more power in the Haydn at times. The RPO played rambling, and the revisions he made consisted mainly of cutting material
expertly in a sympathetic performance of the Vaughan Williams. Lynne to create a more succinct and taut work. Consequently, the original

contains some twenty minutes of extra music, and comes across as more Nash Ensemble "Those Blue Remembered Hills"
meandering and yet more romantic and enigmatic than the revised 15th November 2003
version. Although we are now used to symphonies lasting well over an
hour, to Vaughan Williams, a work of about 70 minutes would have I had been tipped off about the excellence of the Nash Ensemble's "Those
seemed unusually excessive. One wonders whether Vaughan Williams blue remembered Hills” series of early twentieth century English
would have had similar reservations about the length of the symphony chamber music at the Wigmore Hall, the first concert of which I had
had the Mahler canon been better known or more widely performed at unfortunately missed. The second one on Saturday 15th November
that time? proved the discernment of my informer's judgement and made me vow
not to miss any more! The concert opened with Delius' Second Violin
The first movement of the symphony was left unchanged and was Sonata, perhaps better known in the arrangement Lionel Tertis made of it
performed with exquisite expression. The truly gorgeous second for the viola. Played expertly by Marianne Thorsen (violin) and Ian
movement, deeply atmospheric, contained a number of changes, Brown (piano), this was a fairly muscular, though reserved and cool,
primarily oboe, viola and horn solos that were omitted in the revisions as professional performance, lacking some of the insight and warmth of
well as an Elizabethan-esque melody that precedes that heart-rending, other performances, but, one could argue, not necessarily any the worse
expansive epic theme in the middle of the movement. These off for it.
modifications changed the character of whole movement, and therefore
had already altered the entire feel of the symphony, giving it greater Five songs for tenor and string quartet by Peter Warlock followed, with
breadth and almost tranquillising the rest of the work. Mark Padmore. Such settings of songs to string quartet accompaniment
is rare in Warlock's output, the vast majority of Warlock songs being for
The Scherzo (Nocturne) contained more music that had been later cut voice and piano. Less common still are songs originally composed for
including a B major passage and a second trio. Again the effect of these string quartet, as in the case of the first piece, as opposed to later
was to make the piece slightly mellower than the more familiar revised arrangements for string quartet of earlier songs for voice and piano, as in
version. The dramatic and desolate fourth movement was well-paced and the other four songs. It is therefore fairly infrequently that one hears these
deeply moving. It is in this final movement that the greatest amount of string quartet settings, and is a fascinating experience.
changes occurred, including significant cuts, one of which was a
beguilingly, hauntingly beautiful and sorrowful andantino episode. The Once again, these were excellently performed. Immediately evident in
Epilogue was an apt reflection of the whole symphony - those members the first song, My Lady is a Pretty One is the fact that the same genius
of the audience who found the entire work long-winded probably found that Warlock demonstrates in the harmonies and astounding brilliance of
that the Epilogue was over- long and dragged. But for those who (like his piano accompaniments is also present in the aptitude of the settings
me!) didn't ever want the work to end, the extended Epilogue was the for string quartet. The virtuosic playing of the individual instruments,
perfect culmination. however, resulted in Padmore being just slightly drowned out. The Fairest
May was taken slowly and sedately, voice and quartet blending nicely,
The performance was exemplary, not surprisingly so if one considers the and with a lovely flourish for the viola at the end. In My Little Sweet
fact that the soloists and section leaders in the symphony are all concert Darling, Padmore and the Nash brought out the inherent tenderness of
soloists in their own right - with Paul Silverthorne, for example, playing the song beautifully. Sleep, however, was a little on the fast side, and
the viola solos, and the concerti soloists Tim Hugh and Moray Welsh as consequently the poignancies and accents of the piece were not allowed
the joint leaders of the cello section. Hickox was on fine form and to fully emerge. Greater emphasis was needed on the focal words of the
conducted masterly and with obvious understanding of, and deep feeling song, and a greater sense of plight in the last line would have been
for, the work. appropriate. A Sad Song, similarly, would have benefited from greater
investments of feeling and emotion. In general, the string quartet sound
Emerging from the concert enthralled by the original version, I was has the effect of softening the accompaniment, usually heard in harsher
slightly surprised to encounter so much controversy and conflict of chords of the piano alone. It also seems to move the songs away from the
feeling towards the symphony. Admittedly it is a more digressive, echoes and influences of renaissance music with which Warlock was
possibly even discursive work in comparison to the revised version, yet fascinated and often drew upon and invoked.
what it lacks in concision it makes up for in sheer beauty and mysterious
allure. It is a more peaceful, wistful and all-encompassing piece, when The Vaughan Williams String Quartet in C minor concluded the first half.
one suddenly comes across huge vistas and is unrushed in simply The first public performance of any work by Vaughan Williams is
enjoying the spectacularly unfolding themes. Yet a number of people something of a rarity, and this was no exception, especially coming so
found it far too sprawling and periphrastic. Because one is waiting so swift on the heels of the first performances of Vaughan Williams's Second
long for the climaxes in the original version, one doesn't get the Norfolk Rhapsody and original version of the London Symphony for over
tremendous drive and cogency of the revised. The build-ups are lost and 85 years only a week or two before. Written when the composer was 26
tranquillised as there is a greater delay, and when the climaxes do appear in 1898, the String Quartet was performed just once at the Oxford and
they are not as focused as in the revised. Consequently the symphony Cambridge Musical Club in 1904 before Vaughan Williams withdrew it,
lacks the urgency that an audience would usually expect from Vaughan along with a number of other earlier works that he was clearly dissatisfied
Williams's 2nd and some found this, along with the fact that the new with. Although Vaughan Williams had not yet found his characteristic
material breaks up in their minds the way the symphony develops, voice, these early works are nonetheless full of satisfying and charming
slightly disconcerting. Furthermore, for those who know the symphony music. The String Quartet is a well-constructed and assured piece,
well but are perhaps not deeply and intimately involved with the music, particularly in the fugato passages in the last movement. The impressive
the additions are a bit of a distraction. Personally, however, I found it first movement is characterful, strong and incisive. The young Vaughan
wonderful to have the extra music and to be allowed to wallow in the Williams's technique is here shown to be very capable, even though his
additional enchantments that the original version so abundantly offers. own style has not yet been discovered. However, we find more
recognisable Vaughan Williams’s sounds in the second movement, with
I think that Hickox summed this up for me well when, catching a few its wistful, plaintive and lyrical air. The third movement opens with a
words with him post-concert, he commented, "I don't think I'll be able to stately gavotte, simply stated, which is interrupted by an explosive fugal
go back to the other version now!" He was maybe in jest but it was an passage before returning to the courtly dance. The fourth movement is a
apocalyptic performance for me, and rather than detracting from my idea skilfully written set of sharply contrasting variations. An engaging,
of Vaughan Williams's London Symphony, it transformed it into an even concise and gratifying work, Vaughan Williams was surely being very
greater piece than I previously considered it to be. harsh on himself indeed to withdraw it from the public’s pleasure!
Em Marshall The second half commenced with Bax's Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Harp
and String Quartet, a direct transcription made by the composer of his
Sonata for Flute and Harp written eight years earlier. This is a truly

gorgeous and beautifully blended piece, with echoes of Holst and According to Hugh Ottaway in his BBC Guide to the nine Vaughan
Vaughan Williams. The combination of instruments works exceptionally Williams Symphonies, the first movement was initially sketched out as a
well, and furthermore, sounds quite natural despite being a transcription. Wessex Prelude and the last as Landscape while “Salisbury Plain,
The performance was exemplary, and it was most rewarding to see a Stonehenge and Hardy’s Tess had some part in it.” But although in its
group of performers who are well known as soloists in their own right gel final form, it is a true symphony not a tone poem, Ottaway argues that
together so well in an ensemble. “these first intentions are reflected in the tone and substance of the
Ninth”. He sees the symphony as VW in his “most Hardy-like frame of
The final work was Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge. Again, an mind”.
excellent performance, commencing with a well-communicated On
Wenlock Edge, Padmore providing a lovely tone and good inflexions at The performance will be in the hands of David Halls, a conductor who
crucial points, although he was slightly drowned out by the quartet and has known all nine Vaughan Williams’s symphonies since he was 13
piano in the first couple of verses. From far, from eve and morning was years old! In recent years David, who is also the Cathedral’s organist, has
sung with feeling and impeccable annunciation, yet I was slightly conducted the Sea Symphony and the London Symphony with the SSO
disappointed with Is my team ploughing? Although Padmore did make a and still treasures a copy of the original Boult recording.
contrast between the living man and the dead, it was not as prominent as
would perhaps be desirable - he would have done well to make the ghost Many of the orchestra’s members are professional musicians and the
fainter and thinner still, and to give the friend a bit more power. He Leader, Joan Schmeising, has performed the Mendelsohn Concerto to a
captured the desperation of the fifth verse well, but did not sound packed audience in the City. Since it was founded in 1917 with Elgar as
particularly "thin and pine", and did not quite bring across the chill and its first President, the orchestra has given prominence to English music of
poignancy of the final stanza. Oh, when I was in love with you could have the Twentieth Century including an early performance of the unfinished
done with a lighter and cheerier air yet was still admirably performed. Elgar Third Symphony in the presence of the composer Anthony Payne
Bredon Hill was extremely effectively sung, and very well paced, and to who completed it.
conclude, Clun was atmospheric and deeply moving.
Last year David Halls conducted a performance of Britten’s Noyes
On the whole, it was a masterful (and incidentally, one might note, sell- Fludde in which nine local schools took part (nearly 400 children) and so
out) concert; all the pieces receiving accomplished performances, and impressed the BBC (who are doing a documentary on Britten in April)
with a good mix of familiar and unknown works. One wishes the Nash that they recorded the whole performance for BBC 4. This too is expected
Ensemble the very best in their excellent work of thus promoting these to be broadcast in April. Part of a Government grant helped fund the cost
too-seldom performed gems of English Chamber music. of the performance which packed the cathedral three nights running.
Em Marshall Salisbury is still essentially a medieval city, but nowadays has a strong
artistic community. It not only supports a full-sized symphony orchestra
A Concert for the Diary . . . and a 140-strong choir (also conducted by David Halls), but enjoys the
VW’s Ninth comes to Salisbury skills of two chamber orchestras, two string quartets and several smaller
choirs and ensembles. Members of the RVW Society can expect a warm
When the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra performs VW’s great Ninth welcome when they make the journey to the city which VW knew so
Symphony on 20 November 2004 in the City Hall it will be a first for the well.
orchestra and indeed for Salisbury. Which is curious really because the
work, in its original form, had many associations with the City. RVW Roland Freeman
himself is known to have walked on the plain and visited our magnificent
Cathedral.
RVW SOCIETY JOURNAL BINDER

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09. Hugh Evans 11. NT
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Across:
Crossword Solutions:

CD Reviews
Holst, Vaughan Williams and Britten are called the Just One” is evocatively peaceful and still, whereas Miller
Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, Manhattan Chamber does not create any mood of calmness.
Sinfonia, Glen Barton Cortese conductor, Jessica Miller – Savitri,
Kyu Won Han – Death, Simon O'Neill – Satyavan. Phoenix label Satyavan, Simon O’Neill, is a New Zealand tenor, and again is a far cry
PHCD 145 (Full price) from Tear (1965) and Langridge (1983). Whereas Tear sounds young and
joyful, strong and virile, and Langridge’s Satyavan, whilst heavier and
It was a pleasant surprise to be introduced to a new recording of Holst’s possibly not as attractive as Tear’s, is still excellent, Simon O’Neill is
Savitri, and delightful to see some Vaughan Williams on the same CD! whining and nasal, with no real feeling. When Langridge especially is
Completely unfamiliar names were a further surprise, but did not most touching in his loving “But thou are pale and trembling: / What ails
necessarily bode badly – after all, the more people who promote this thee?”, O’Neill puts no passion into that significant line at all. Although
music, the better! In actual fact, however, my slight apprehension at his words are fairly clear, he, too, seems to have picked up something of
discovering that the performers were the completely unknown Manhattan an accent, elongating and nasalizing vowels, and he has a habit which
School of Music Chamber Sinfonia and Opera Theatre (sorry – Theater) becomes increasingly infuriating of aspirating the “wh” in words such as
was borne out. Glen Barton Cortese – principal conductor of the “who” and “what” – fairly prevalent words in this libretto! His voice also
aforementioned Sinfonia (about which there was no further information has a slightly harsh and rough, almost crass quality to it. He would
in the sleeve notes) – conducts, and in Savitri Jessica Miller plays Savitri, perhaps be better suited to less sensitive roles, or to ones requiring a
Kyu Won Han is Death and Simon O’Neill is Satyavan in a rendition that bigger voice – Italian opera, maybe, rather than the delicate balance of an
could most positively be described as an admirable attempt. English chamber opera. He reflects Miller and Kyu Won Han in having
little changes in emotional intensity, mood or power throughout the piece.
It is admittedly a well-nigh impossible task to compete successfully with
the two brilliant recordings of that masterpiece that are currently The orchestra and chorus, on the other hand, play quite well and produce
available – the 1983 Hyperion recording under Richard Hickox and the a pleasing tone, although the balance between chorus/orchestra and
1965 Imogen Holst recording. However, in comparison this version, soloists could be adjusted to allow less conflict between the two –
recorded in America in 2000, is regrettably dismal. Death’s opening whereas in the Hyperion recording in particular, the orchestra and chorus
proclamation – perhaps the most thrilling, terrifying and intense opening unobtrusively support the singers, in this recording they are too loud and
to any opera – is not electrifying, as Stephen Varcoe makes it in the blatant. The Hyperion and Decca recordings present a unified sound as
Hyperion recording. Rather it is rough, hurried, and sounds somehow the soloists, chorus and orchestra come together smoothly and discreetly
vaguely imprecise. Kyu Won Han – a Korean baritone – has a fairly harsh – here they almost battle and therefore do not do justice to the score. But
voice; his words are not particularly clear and have a feeling of the fact that I could listen to this recording dry-eyed (a first for me
inaccuracy about them. He lacks the solemnity and the sombre power that listening to any recording/performance of Savitri!) is condemnation in
is necessary for Death. Whereas Varcoe’s Death - esoteric-sounding, itself.
terrifically powerful, and with beautifully precise annunciation - sends
shivers down one’s spine, Kyu Won Han creates tension in the listener in Dismayed by the Savitri, the Vaughan Williams came as quite a relief–
case he wobbles off the note. He does not make use of the profound this is a fairly accomplished and gratifying performance of The Lark
dramatic pauses that both Varcoe and Hemseley (1965 recording) Ascending. Korean violinist Ik-Hwan Bae produces an agreeable sound,
employ; he does not lay deep, compelling emphasis on the word “Death” with well-articulated trills and far more feeling and emotion than all the
in the opening bars of the piece as they do, and when talking later with soloists put together managed to muster for the Holst. Although perhaps
Savitri, he sounds almost mechanical and has no presence whatsoever. not as evocative as one would have liked, and he does not “soar” quite
Varcoe’s deep, tuneful, vibrant Death can change from being abstruse, enough for my liking, Ik-Hwan Bae is still well-poised, accurate and
mystical, and foreboding to being serene and tranquil – almost quiet reasonably sensitive with a lyrical air. There is a far better balance
towards the end of the work; a transformation which Kyu Won Han between orchestra and soloist than in the Holst, and together they
cannot effect – his Death is very consistent and invariable. produce a full and fairly rich sound, although both soloist and orchestra
could have made more effective use of changes in dynamics. Slightly on
Jessica Miller is similarly disappointing – her voice is too breathy and the fast side at 14.55, on the whole, it is a pleasingly lilting, and
light, and lacks the maturity and ardour of both Baker (1965) and Palmer surprisingly poetic endeavour.
(1983). Like Death, she also rushes her lines (this recording is 5 or 6
minutes faster than the other two), and (horror of horrors) a recognisable Britten’s Sinfonietta Op. 1 completes the disc. As with all the pieces on
American accent does come through. Again, important words are not this CD, this was taken at swifter pace than average. The Manhattan
given enough urgency or weight, nor is she moving in the deeply Chamber Sinfonia play this inventive and concise piece well – they bring
romantic bits. Palmer is a bit brighter than Baker’s grave and deep out both its charm and energy effectively, and perform it dynamically and
(almost subdued) but very effectively frightened Savitri, and although with vivacious rhythmical drive. The lively opening is persuasively
Palmer perhaps does not convey completely the tremendous fear that is portrayed in a vibrant rendition, and the more romantic, lush second
due to one facing an apparition of Death, yet she does bring out infinite movement (strangely enough entitled “Variations” on this CD, instead of
tenderness when calling Satyavan’s name. Miller, throughout the its usual Andante Lento) is played tenderly and with feeling. This
recording, does not imply any great affection – for example, in the movement is not as smooth or gentle as it could be, and rather lacks the
poignant and impassioned “I am with thee, / My arms are round thee; Thy haunting quality of some of the other recordings of this piece (the 1997
thoughts are mine / My spirit dwells with thee” and “Like to a babe in his Britten Sinfonia / Daniel Harding one, for instance), yet the pastoral
mother’s robe / Thou are enshrouded in my love”, Miller gives little hint mood is well conveyed. The dark and almost dim sound of the players
of emotion, but hurries through automatically. On a more positive note, suits the Tarantella, and this almost dulled tone does not seem to detract
however, Miller does reflect the fear of Savitri in the opening section from the piece. The lyrical but powerful Sinfonietta is accurately played
fairly well, and she has a powerful voice, so that the lines “Ah! Death the throughout, with emotion and understanding, yet I still feel that it would
just one / Whose word ruleth all / Grant me a boon” are among her best. have benefited from a bit more fire breathed into it.
She is perhaps slightly too powerful – Palmer’s “Welcome Lord! / Thou

The appearance of the disc itself reflects the slightly amateur feel of the recording leads with Greensleeves and omits to mention In the Fen
performances on it – with adequate and comprehensible – if not Country. This is understandable marketing and it is to be hoped that
particularly erudite or comprehensive – sleeve notes, and a just slightly listeners new to VW will go beyond Greensleeves or Tallis to explore the
unprofessional looking cover/back. We are spoilt in our wonderful wealth beautiful lesser known works on this recording. Unfortunately, the
of Chandos/Hyperion recordings of English music, and one wonders why performance of some of the rarer works is disappointing. For example,
the Manhattan School of Music chose to record these particular pieces, members will recall that wonderfully rich and expansive opening
which they perform without any obvious merit – competently enough in Interlude for the Concerto Grosso in the early recording on HMV
the case of the Vaughan Williams and Britten but rather disappointingly conducted by Norman Del Mar (ASD 2351). This was a revelation.
so for the Holst – and why they did not rather chose less demanding, or James Judd and his New Zealand forces are not in the same league and
less well-known and already brilliantly recorded pieces instead? as a result the Concerto Grosso makes little impact. In the Fen Country
and the Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 fare a little better whilst lacking the
Em Marshall atmosphere of the best recordings. The Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas
Tallis is the most successful work here yet the magic of Barbirolli is
missing.
Hymn Tunes
Come down, O Love Divine, O Taste and A useful compendium for those discovering Vaughan Williams.
See, We’ve been awhile, Te Deum,
Wither’s Rocking Hymn, For All the Stephen Connock
Saints, Valiant-for-Truth, Prayer to the
Father of Heaven, Three Choral Hymns, Songs of Travel
Sanctus (Communion Service in G Christopher Maltman (baritone) Roger
minor), Festival Te Deum. Choirs of Vignoles (piano) on Hyperion CDA
Worcester Cathedral and Westminster 67378, with Somervell A Broken Arc, W
Abbey, Christopher Robinson, Douglas Denis Browne Three Songs, Butterworth
Guest on Chandos CHAN 6550 (medium Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, Bredon
priced) Hill and other songs (full price)
These Chandos recordings first appeared in 1974 and are most sensitive Having purchased this disc for the Songs of
to RVW’s hymn and carol settings. We’ve been a while a wandering is Travel, I have been most impressed by
delightful. Wither’s Rocking Hymn is also quite lovely and those Arthur Somervell’s cycle A Broken Arc.
members who do not know this carol should make immediate amends by Members may know Somervell from John Carol Case’s pioneering
purchasing this disc. It is one of Vaughan Williams’s most beautiful recording of Maud. A Broken Arc, published in 1923, opens with songs
original carols. For All the Saints is suitably rousing, although Valiant- of genuine ardour and, in Andrew Burn’s words, an ecstatic quality. With
for-Truth, written on the death of the composer’s friend Dorothy superb singing from Christopher Maltman, this cycle is a major
Longman, does not make the impression it could. discovery. The inclusion of W Denis Browne’s most beautiful song – To
Overall, a strong recommendation. Gratiana dancing and singing and other songs by Butterworth add to the
attraction of this Hyperion disc. As to the Songs of Travel, Maltman’s
Stephen Connock intelligence and beauty of tone are again in evidence. However, overall
other versions linger in the memory – notably Robert Tear or Bryn Terfel.
Overall, a strongly recommended CD.
English Oboe Concertos Stephen Connock
Oboe Concerto, Ruth Bolister (oboe),
Elgar Chamber Orchestra, Stephen Bell A Sea Symphony
with Jacob Concerto No. 1 for oboe and Joan Rodgers (soprano), Christopher
strings, Elgar Soliloquy, Holst A Fugal Maltman (baritone), Bournemouth
Concerto, Goossens Concerto en un Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Paul
Mouvement, on ASV CD DCA 1173 (full Daniel on Naxos 8.557059 (£4.99)
priced)
At super bargain price, perhaps I should not
be too critical of this new recording of A Sea
Those of you with a penchant for the plaintive and pastoral sounds of the Symphony. After all, we have excellent
oboe in English music of the 20th century, this recital is for you! The soloists – Christopher Maltman in particular
highlight is Gordon Jacob’s Concerto of 1934. This is a reworking of continues to impress with fine diction, a
the Oboe Quartet he composed for Evelyn Rothwell. Sturdy outer warm round tone and exemplary VW style. Paul Daniel has also secured
movements frame a delightful Andante con moto slow movement that is notable success in the English 20th century repertoire; his Walton 1,
dreamy and lyrical – a work that deserves to be much better known. whilst not quite the equal of Previn, is a fine recording. So what is the
RVW’s Oboe Concerto has those same dreamy passages, only more so. problem? Paul Daniel adopts broad tempi throughout and the first
It is a gorgeous work. Ruth Bolister is equal to the technical demands movement, for example, fails to take wing. Even the spine-tingling
although this version does not quite capture that visionary quality which opening remains earth-bound. ‘On the beach at night, alone’ lacks that
characterises the best recordings. sense of awe that characterises the front runners in this marvellous work.
More seriously, the opening of the fourth movement continues in the
Stephen Connock conductor’s measured tread and the wonderfully expansive largamente
episode again fails to exert its normal sway since it is rather understated
Orchestral favourites here. The Naxos recording finally takes off when the soloists enter in the
Fantasia on Greensleeves, Fantasia on a final movement. ‘Bathe me, O God, in thee’ is moving and Paul Daniel’s
Theme of Thomas Tallis, Norfolk consistent approach to the work reaps dividends in these evocative
Rhapsody No. 1, In the Fen Country, closing pages.
Concerto Grosso. New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra, James Judd on At just £4.99, members can perhaps afford to purchase this disc for its
Naxos 8.555867 (£4.99) glimpses of glory and fine soloists.
Stephen Connock
The front sleeve of this new Naxos

Letters
performances of the experts, but the often ungainly efforts of those
who by age or other causes were prevented from ever being good
dancers, but, nevertheless, had found in the folk-dance a spiritual
exaltation which they had found nowhere else. –
R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.
We are always pleased to
receive contributions for this page * I am quite aware that a few people had discovered a few folk-songs
before Sharp came into the field, nevertheless the above statement
Goon Show remains absolutely true.
Are there any other Goon Show fanatics in the RVW Society? Although
I have almost a complete set of cassettes of broadcasts from 1955 to Michael Goatcher
1960, I tuned into BBC Radio 7 on Monday December 15th to hear a Thaxted, Essex
broadcast of 'Operation Christmas Duff', a special overseas broadcast
from December 1956. (Incidentally this was not, to my mind, one of their Echoes of Elgar
better efforts). I read with great pleasure (as always with these two scholars) the essays
by Byron Adams and Michael Kennedy on Vaughan Williams and Elgar
But, to get to the point of this letter, the episode concludes with Major in the October 2003 issue. It might be helpful for those interested in the
Bloodnok and Neddy Seagoon trudging across the Antarctic wastes topic to mention here two further possible echoes of Elgar in Vaughan
bearing a giant Christmas pudding to the British Antarctic Station. And Williams; I discuss these connections in my book Vaughan Williams's
they trudge to an extract from RVW's 'Scott' music, presumably arranged Ninth Symphony (Oxford, 2001), pp. 278-81, but given the high price of
by bandleader Wally Stott, played by what I think was the BBC Dance books from academic presses, which places them beyond the reach of
Orchestra. Just a few bars, but I wonder if RVW got his royalties! most public libraries (let alone individuals), I will summarize them very
briefly here. First, I suggest that the theme which dominates the second
Incidentally, the starving Bloodnok ends up eating the pudding from the half of the finale of RVW's Ninth, first heard at fig. 16 of the published
inside. score, is a near-quotation, conscious or unconscious, of the motif
normally labelled 'The Spirit of the Lord' in The Apostles and The
There is at least one more RVW connection with BBC comedy shows. Kingdom (the motif accompanies part of the first chorus entry in the
During the nineteen forties, Gordon Jacob occasionally did orchestral former work); the case for making the connection between the two
arrangements for 'ITMA'. Jacob was, of course, a friend and pupil of themes is strongest not so much at their initial appearances, but rather in
RVW. He wrote a set of variations on the 'big tune' from Job. their deployment in the climactic concluding sections of the Ninth
Symphony and The Apostles respectively. (There are several reasons for
Michael Gainsford which this particular passage from Elgar is in fact highly apposite to
Vaughan Williams's programmatic concerns in the symphony, but I will
Unknown RVW writing have to leave those curious about the matter to follow it up in the book.)
The year 2003 saw the centenaries of Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Second, I suggest that the 'Alleluia' phrase of RVW's Sine Nomine clearly
Williams collecting their first folk songs. Cecil Sharp collected The echoes, albeit in major rather than minor mode, the 'Alleluia' sung by the
Seeds of Love from John England in Hambridge, Somerset on 22nd Angel in Part 2 of The Dream of Gerontius (pp. 60-62 in the Novello
August 1903 and RVW collected Bushes and Briars from Charles vocal score); this seems more likely than the Ninth Symphony theme to
Potiphar in Ingrave, Essex on 4th December 1903. have been an unconscious 'crib', to use RVW's term but of course one
never knows . . .
When Cecil Sharp died on 23rd June 1924 RVW wrote the following
appreciation, which he began with a quotation from John Bunyan’s The Alain Frogley
Pilgrim’s Progress. It was published in the November 1924 issue of the University of Connecticut, USA
‘E.F.D.S. News’, the magazine of the English Folk Dance Society.
Premiere of Sinfonia Antartica
THE LATE CECIL J SHARP The 50th anniversary of my joining the Royal Air Force was in August
“Now Christiana, if need was, could play upon the Vial, and her 2003 and while surfing the Internet looking for events of 1953, I came
Daughter Mercy upon the Lute : so, since they were so merry across the RVW Society web site. I found it extremely interesting
disposed, she played them a Lesson, and Ready-to-hault would because my Music Teacher at Salford Grammar School, Dr Llifon
Dance. So he took Despondencie’s Daughter, named Much-afraid, by Hughes-Jones, had studied with RVW and hardly ever stopped talking
the Hand, and to Dancing they went in the Road. True, he could not about him! He instilled in me a lifelong interest in RVW’s music. In
Dance without one Crutch in his Hand, but I promise you, he footed those days gramophone records were very few and far between and
it well; also the Girl was to be commended, for she answered the almost entirely 78s so Dr Hughes-Jones had to do most of his teaching
Musick handsomely.” “at the piano”.
BUNYAN : The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II.
I had listened to the Premiere of Sinfonia Antartica on the “wireless” and
CECIL SHARP discovered our national heritage of song and dance,* been present for the second performance the following night in the Free
and he determined that it should not remain locked up in libraries or Trade Hall. I was surprised to see that your website gave the date of the
buried in the archives of learned societies, but that what belonged to Premiere as 14 June 1953 (since corrected). I knew that date was wrong
the people should be restored to the people. so I dug out my shoolboy diaries. You may find these two verbatim
extracts of interest:
I trace the beginnings of the wonderful musical renaissance in
England of the last twenty years to the folk-song and dance Wednesday 14 January 1953
movement inaugurated by Cecil Sharp. It was folk-song which Tonight in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, the Hallé Orchestra
aroused in many thousands of people a musical consciousness of conducted by Sir John Barbirolli gave the World Premiere of
which they were entirely unaware – the musical instinct was there but Vaughan Williams’s 7th Symphony, Sinfonia Antartica. Margaret
it was dormant. The “average man” suddenly discovered that here Ritchie was the soloist with the Hallé Choir. Mother and I listened to
was beautiful music which he could not only enjoy and appreciate, it on the wireless and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The many wonderful
but in which he could himself join. effects: vibraphone; wind machine; and organ, were really beautiful
and I am looking forward more than ever to tomorrow when I am
Is it not the same with the dancing? I believe it is true that what gave going to the Free Trade Hall to hear the symphony again.
Sharp most pleasure in his schools and classes was not the finished

Thursday 15 January 1953 Opera recordings

This evening I went to the Free Trade Hall to see the Hallé It would be of great interest to know what relative success recordings of
Orchestra. The first part of the concert consisted of Rossini’s the RVW operas are having. In a letter received two or three years ago
Semiramide Overture, the Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda by from the late and much lamented Ted Perry, I was saddened to read that
Delius and Haydn’s 6th Symphony. The second half was devoted to the splendid recording of Hugh the Drover had not been a commercial
Sinfonia Antartica; this was again being broadcast on the BBC Third success. (If ever an opera ought to be popular, surely it is Hugh!) I think
Programme. You have to see this to realise what a wonderful work it that Society members might be very interested to know what kind of
is. Margaret Ritchie was the soloist with the Hallé Choir. In the commercial success ventures such as the early chamber music or
interval I saw Michael Altman and he had a spare 15 shilling ticket in Poisoned Kiss are enjoying. Would it, for example, be enough to
the Grand Circle so I joined him for the second half and was amazed encourage Chandos or Hyperion to look at the early orchestral music?
to find that we were seated just three or four rows directly behind
RVW himself. The concert started at 7.00 pm and finished at 8.40 pm A further topic of great interest to me and presumably to other members
though it was nearer 8.50 when Vaughan Williams had finished lies in the unfinished scores left by VW at his death. Is there enough in
taking his bows. I got home about 9.20 pm; nothing unusual Thomas the Rhymer, for example, to make it even vaguely possible that
happened during the rest of the day. (given permission of course) someone might do an “Anthony Payne” on
the sketches? If not, would there be at least scope for an in-depth
I have just renewed contact with school friend Michael Altman for the discussion of the sketches by some suitably qualified person in the pages
first time in 50 years – by email of course! of a future Journal?
In December 1954, by then a wireless fitter in the RAF, I was posted to Which leads me to a final thought. Knowing of VW’s great (and very
RAF Gangodawila, a remote signals unit in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and right!) admiration for the music of Stanford, is there anyone who might
with my new found wealth I bought a rather primitive record player and be qualified to trace what influences (if any) the operas of Stanford had
my very first LP – Sinfonia Antartica conducted by Boult. There was a on those of VW, and who could present his conclusions in the Journal?
very irritating side break 61/2 minutes into the 3rd movement which The operas of VW, as we all know, are pretty scandalously neglected, but
completely spoilt the build up to the organ entry. Even now, 50 years on, those of Stanford are a completely closed book to almost everyone. To
I know exactly where that side break occurred and when listening on the judge from the snatches I have heard over the years, Stanford’s operas
radio or to modern recordings I find my ears are still mentally expecting it. could be one of the worst examples yet remaining in the body of unjustly
forgotten music.
Tony Cunnane
www.redsaway.co.uk I am very sorry that geographical constraints prevent me from being other
than a passive member of the Society. I particularly regret my (normally
Dash it all … very contented) self-exile in foreign parts when I read each year of the
It looks to me as if gremlins or printers’ devils have got at that article of imaginative programmes organized for the day of the AGM. You may be
mine about Vaughan Williams and the May Day pageant-scene at the interested to know that, if frequency of programming on the Spanish
Crystal Palace in the last issue. They’ve eaten almost all the dashes I put Classical radio channel is any guide, RVW appears to be pretty popular
into it, which makes several of its sentences pretty opaque. Anyone in Spain. Pieces like Tallis or The Lark Ascending appear in the schedules
needing clarification of what I was trying to say can find me at with great regularity, but less obviously popular works come up
roger.savage@ed.ac.uk; but it would be worthwhile here, I think, to set frequently, too. (Never yet one of the operas, though, or not to my
out RVW’s diatribe against ‘Merrie Englandism’ correctly, since it had its knowledge.)
dashes eaten too (and also had a bit of my own prose included in it as if
it were RVW’s). Here’s what he rather bullishly said in 1907 when Cecil R James Tayler
Sharp inadvertently waved that particular red rag at him: ‘I suppose I’m Malaga, Spain
prejudiced but I lose all self-control when I see the expression ‘Merrie
England’ (at all events why not ‘Merry’?) it seems to me to be connected Elgar and beauty
with Ruskinianism and ‘Home industries’ and all the worst kind of I read Michael Kennedy’s article ‘Elgar and Vaughan Williams: An
obscurantism if the folksong has nothing to say to us as we are now Overview’ with interest and enjoyment, but I was surprised by a
without a sham return to an imaginary (probably quite illusory) arcadia particular quote in Mr Kennedy’s paper. This came from Vaughan
of several centuries ago if the folksong means this then I would burn all Williams himself, an extract from his essay ‘What We Have Learnt from
the collections I could lay hands on and their singers with them please Elgar’ that “a sense of something familiar – the intimate and personal
forgive this spenetic outburst but that particular expression … [links beauty of our own fields and lanes” is portrayed in Elgar’s music.
folksong] with the worst of its hangers on and camp-followers Amen.’
That’s telling ‘em! Beauty is not an emotion I would generally discern in Elgar’s music, with
the exceptions of an exquisite little song ‘My love dwelt in a Northern
Roger Savage land’ and ‘Serenade for Strings’. I may be guilty of ignorance in
admitting to feeling his compositions are at times somewhat heavy and
Poisoned Kiss impersonal.
I have just spent an evening listening to the Poisoned Kiss. I cannot begin
to congratulate enough the RVW Society, Ursula and everyone else My knowledge of Vaughan Williams’s music outweighs that of Elgar’s,
involved in making this happen. It is a fantastic recording and in acts 2 but I perceive Sir Edward to be a scales-only man, except for some modal
and 3 in particular the music and words have a spellbinding effect. You presence in his Violin Concerto, Serenade for Strings, and in certain
can almost see VW chuckling to himself through the sheer enjoyment of passages from The Dream of Gerontius, so I understand. Conversely,
writing music of such lyricism and beauty. In Hugh, Sir John and now the Vaughan Williams skilfully combines today’s scale with yesterday’s
Kiss we have three wonderful lyrical operas that provide many arias and mode and pentatonic scale in many of his compositions, resulting not
choruses that should be enjoyed by (if they were allowed) for example, only in a cavalcade of sound but a canvas awash with colour. These
listeners to Classic FM, who would think that they were listening to an diverse methods of writing music tint his melodies with shades of green,
“English” Puccini and wondering why on earth this music does not brown and gold evoking fields and lanes, not to mention his musical
appear on the latest Roberto Alagna or Andrea Bocelli album. brush strokes depicting sea and sky.
Many thanks again to everyone concerned. Vaughan Williams saw in Elgar’s compositions the beauty of fields and
lanes. Did he see in his own music the grainy browns and soft greens of
Andrew Whisker undulating fields over which insects hum and birds sing, intercepted by

hedge-bound lanes embellished with grasses and herbs, and sprinkled Three Choirs Memories
with a myriad of wild flowers? Like many others, I enjoyed taking part in the Hereford quiz to identify
on archive film personalities attending the Three Choirs Festival between
Vaughan Williams in a battered hat, waxed jacket and wellies? 1947 and 1961.
Absolutely. Elgar? Maybe.
One name missing from the official list was that of Bertram B Benas,
E Anne Webb CBE, a Liverpool barrister and a celebrated writing for the Jewish
London Chronicle. He can be clearly seen on film, a diminutive figure in
traditional lawyer’s dress, including a wing collar.
20th century symphonies
Thank you, Gavin Bullock, for your reaction to my letter about 20th He attached particular value to the Three Choirs’ performing tradition of
century symphonies. Yes, I should have added Elgar and Walton (at least Elgar’s music, the style of which derived from the composer himself.
for his first). Also Rachmaninov for his second. Mention of Elgar and In his book, Elgar As I Knew Him, W H Reed quotes from a letter Mr
my gratitude to Anthony Payne for his work on the 3rd symphony, causes Benas addressed to Elgar’s daughter, Carice, on her father’s scholarship
me again to wish to hear in my lifetime a tentative completion of Thomas in Hebrew music and on his sympathy with the Jewish community and its
the Rhymer, the Cello Concerto and any other late RVW that are still liturgy.
inaccessible to music lovers.
Mr Benas wrote for the Jewish Chronicle an article entitled ‘Some Jewish
Tony Noakes Musical Contacts of the late Sir Edward Elgar.’
Western Australia
Many of us are members both of the RVW Society and the Elgar Society
Celebrations in Essex and it is pleasing that Stephen Connock’s researches have produced
To celebrate the centenary of the first visit of Ralph Vaughan Williams material showing interpreters of composers who brought great prestige to
which started in 1903, the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford organised the Three Choirs Festival in the 20th century.
an exhibition. On show was a bicycle similar to one which he would have
ridden as well as the original recording machine. There were also copies Kenneth Burge
of the electoral register regarding Charles Potiphar and the Heatley sisters Taunton, Somerset.
for 1901 who lived in the village of Ingrave. There were photographs of
Billericay Workhouse and relevant places as well as a complete list of the The Poisoned Kiss
songs collected and the singers together with the dates he heard them I wonder if any readers of the RVWS Journal had the misfortune to hear
during 1903 to 1906. ‘CD Review’ on BBC Radio 3 on December 20th? In his review of recent
opera recordings, Roger Parker was decidedly less than complimentary to
It was a fascinating display with audio and video recording to enhance the premiere recording of The Poisoned Kiss. After playing a brief extract
the story. from the first entry of the Hobgoblins he said that if the listener could not
recognise the composer, well: ‘It was our own Ralph Vaughan Williams
Mrs J Taylor trying to write yet another opera’ This appeared to me to be implying that
Billericay, Essex RVW’s operatic attempts were all failures. Riders to the Sea at the very
least, ranks with the best.
Future events
The revival in interest in RVW over the last decade or two is most No mention was made that Poisoned Kiss is not an opera at all. RVW
welcome. I am particularly pleased that local musicians are advancing the called it, no doubt after due consideration, a ‘Romantic Extravaganza’,
cause. The Slaithwaite Orchestra will perform Job in Huddersfield Town which is just what it is; not a fully blown opera set up to be demolished
Hall on 3rd April 2004 (details from P & E Pearson, 01484 663967); and by some po-faced critic. Parker did offer some qualified praise to some
the Todmorden Orchestra in our Town Hall here is to present The Wasps of the ‘slower items’ in the work, and we got an extract from the Blue
overture and the 2nd Symphony (along with Beethoven’s 5th Piano Larkspur duet to illustrate this point. The plot was damned as being out-
Concerto) at 7.30 pm on 13th March 2004. Tickets £7 (concessions £5) of-date twenties dialogue wedded to (something like) sub Lord of the
at the door if desired ring Tourist Office 01706 818181 to check Rings sorcery; ie a silly plot. He ought to try reading the librettos of
availability. I’ll be glad to meet any RVW Society members who ask for Turandot or Iolanthe some time. RVW did not have a monopoly of
me in the downstairs tea-room during the interval. I hope some will ludicrous plots. Most of the operatic oeuvre is based on such, and many
support our excellent orchestra, which will also give the English Folk foreign libretti sound ridiculous in straight translation. And Poisoned Kiss
Song Suite at its “Prom” on 26th June 2004. does not even pretend to be an opera.
Finally a Northern Clerihew: Of course it would be stretching loyalty to RVW to place the
“Edvard Grieg ‘Extravaganza’ above a work like Turandot, even if the former does have
Was no stranger to intrigue; more good tunes(!)
He wrote Finlandia under the alias
Of Jan Sibelius.” I recently played it through to an audience of three friends (not noted as
RVW addicts) and the reaction was overwhelmingly favourable. Perhaps
Frank McManus I should say that the one that was most impressed was an 82 year old
Todmorden retired doctor, so perhaps Parker’s jibe about twenties dialogue had a
germ of truth. All three thought it was great fun.
Locomotive Names
Further to John Clark’s letter in issue 28, it is true that writers did much Parker did have the grace to state that ‘You’ll either love it or loathe it’,
better than musicians in the locomotive naming stakes, I can think of only making it quite clear that he was amongst the loathers. I, and I hope a
one example other than that mentioned, London & North Western majority of listeners with a modicum of a sense of fun and an
Railway ‘Prince of Wales’ class, No. 5633, Sir W.S. Gilbert. With appreciation for lovely tunes, will be amongst the lovers.
reference to Vaughan Williams, covert railway anoraks amongst your
membership may also be aware that Great Western Railway ‘Bulldog’ Michael Gainsford
class, No. 3454, was Skylark and Southern Railway ‘Schools’ class, No. Burbage, Leics
30903, Charterhouse.
Mike Cooper
N. Yorkshire
RVW Crossword No. 15 by Michael Gainsford Across

1 2 3 4 5
01. RVW was here from 1887 to 1890. (12)
06. Mythical Greek who turned to stone whilst bewailing the loss of
her children. (5)
6 7 08. Composer venerated by RVW. (4)
10. Wrote the words of The Splendour Falls, set in 1905. (8)
8 9
15. Shakespeare provided the words of this to music in 1938. (8)
10 11 17. As 12 down (4)
18. Hymn 37 ('Saviour, again to Thy dear name'). (5)
10 11 11 12
21. His Why Fumeth in Fight became the basis of a Fantasia. (6, 6)
13 12 13 15 16 14
17 15 16
Down
17 20 21 01. Hugh ran off with his daughter. (9)
02. The ****** Nest, RVW's first composition. (6)
22 21 18
03. A-B-A-C-A-D-A musical form. (5)
22 19 23 20 04. Letters after RVW's name since 1935. (1,1)
05. French or Italian key of B. (2)
21
07. The fourth of the Mystical Songs. (4)
09. Welsh parson from Sir John in Love. (4, 5)
11. Present owners of Leith Hill Place. (1,1)
Answers on Page 26 12. Her lament was set as an (unpublished) madrigal, in 1897. (4)
13. RVW went there to lecture at Bryn Mawr. (1,1)
Next Edition: June 2004

14. ****** in the Morning (On Christmas Day). (3,3)
16. Gervase who gave the first performance of On Wenlock Edge. (5)
49th Parallel
19. Initials of RVW's great friend (minus the television?). (1,1)
The deadline for contributions

20. Initials of the cello player in the pianoforte trio given at
is 10th April 2004

Charterhouse in 1888. (1,1)
Call for
Albion Music Limited
Publications available by post:- Papers
The Complete Poems + Fall of Leaf by Ursula Vaughan Williams £20.00 plus £3.50
The October 2004 edition

There was a time – a Pictorial Collection £20.00 plus £2.60
of the Journal will

Paradise Remembered by Ursula Vaughan Williams £20.00 plus £2.30
celebrate the Society’s 10th

Vaughan Williams & The Vision of Albion by Wilfrid Mellers £15.00 plus £2.60
anniversary. The theme is

Vaughan Williams in Perspective (edited by Lewis Foreman) £20.00 plus £2.30
“What RVW means to me”

Ralph's People: The Ingrave Secret by Frank Dineen £15.00 plus £1.70
RVW- A Full Discography by Stephen Connock £10.00 plus £1.10
RVW- A Bibliography by Graham Muncy and Robin Barber £6.00 plus 50p
l25th anniversary set of six cards with watercolour views of VW's The deadline for
houses by Bridget Duckenfield (blank for own message) £5.00 plus 33p
contributions is
10th August 2004
Vision of Albion poster, with Blake imagery (a superb
memento of the l25th anniversary) (measures 28" x 23") £10.00 plus £1.10
All members are

urged to contribute
Back issues of the Journal are available at £5.00 each + P&P
All cheques should be made out to Albion Music Limited and sent to:
to this special edition

Stephen Connock, 65 Marathon House, 200 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5PL
for immediate delivery

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No.29 Feb 2004 Revised 2/2/04 11:53 Page 1

No.29 February 2004

Hymnals – a new perspective

Success in the year

Hymn Tune Descants

Vaughan Williams and the Hymnals - a new perspective

Having produced the ground-breaking English Hymnal, VW might well

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Julian Onderdonk’s ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Folksong Collecting’

He was attracted to English folksong, Tudor and Jacobean

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Part 2: Editing the hymnals

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The music is intended to be essentially congregational in

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Vaughan Williams’s total mastery of the medium, and his instinctive

Source: The English Hymnal 1906, pp. xvi-xvii

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While Hymns Ancient and Modern focussed disproportionately on

As well as a new harmonic and melodic style, many of the folksong

The importance of these innovatory folksong adaptations should not be

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In contrast, The English Hymnal embraced a much more comprehensive

Summary of Vaughan Williams’s editorial policy

● The adaptation of a significant number of English folksongs as

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In the meantime Songs of Praise had proved to be such an immediate and

Table 5: Comparison of Tradtional and Modern Tunes in EH and SPE

Sources: EH 1906; SPE 1931

Unlike EH before it, Songs of Praise Enlarged was characterised by the

The lesser hymnals

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From this analysis of Vaughan Williams’s work on hymnals the

Part 3: The reception and impact of the hymnals

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What I hope I have shown is that, though distinct and separate

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Two Obscure Hymn Tunes

LITTLE CLOISTER... Hymn tune for voices in unison and organ...

It becomes clear, therefore, why Vaughan Williams composed one

The thought in each of Dearmer’s eight-line stanzas is organized into two

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The hymn tune ST. MARGARET possesses a jubilant D major melody

The fourth line of each quatrain is appropriately punctuated by two

This provides a new rhythm before the previous two-bar pattern is

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DETERMINING A CHRONOLOGOCAL LIST OF

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HYMN TUNE DESCANTS

curious impression of an ethereal choir joining in the worship below; and

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FIGURE 2: COELITES PLAUDANT, from Paroissien Romain, Noté in

In 1917, Geoffrey Shaw, who had composed eleven descants in Riley’s

The plan is simple: the well-known melody, which we have

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It must have been in 1904 that I was sitting in my study in