Overview

Overview

• Born: 1872–1958

• Nationality: English

• Early life: Brought up in the Cotswolds

• Education: Royal College of Music

• Military: Fought in World War I (served as a general)

• Paris period: Later went to Paris to study under Ravel → this was a major influence and marked the first shift in the direction of his music

• English composers group (context / wider listening):

  Vaughan Williams, Delius, Holst, Benjamin Britten, Elgar

• Folk research: He did a tour of England, where he recorded and notated English folk songs. This is important.
  • He was effectively a proto-ethnomusicologist (he could almost be considered one).

• Influences he loved:
  • English folk music
  • Tudor music (he was a big fan)
  • Impressionism
  • All three were very un-German in character

• General aesthetic:
  • Often called pastoral
  • Very English
  • Bittersweet, nostalgic

• Output: Prolific in all genres – symphonies, film, folk arrangements, chamber music

• Wagner influence:
  • He was quite Wagnerian, and Wagner was the most advanced composer of the era
  • You can even say there are Wagnerian flourishes
  • Wider listening link: Ride of the Valkyries

Context: “On Wenlock Edge”

• Year: 1909

• Type: Song cycle (6 songs in total)

• Instrumentation: String quartet + piano + voice
  • Unusual. String quartet and quintet are common, but with voice is extremely rare.

• Stylistic features:
  • Parallel harmony (Impressionistic)
  • Whole-tone scales
  • Pentatonic scales
  • Programmatic writing
  • Strong emphasis on nature

• Main thesis:

  Vaughan Williams uses music to underline the words, the meaning, and to evoke the feeling of nature.

  • Wind is a particularly important element.

• The poem: About a forest battered by the winds.

What to Listen Out For

• Folk elements

• Tudor influence

• Impressionism

• Poetry

• Nature

His English Sound

He has an English sound, but it is actually a mixture of:

• French

• German

• Tudor

• Folk music