FOLK SONGS OF THE FOUR SEASONS

Folk Songs of the Four Seasons
Prologue I  Spring II  Summer III  Autumn IV  Winter

This Cantata for Women's Voices brought together two vital elements in Vaughan Williams' musical character: his strong support for amateur music making and his life-long love for English folksongs and folk-carols. The work was commissioned by the National Federation of Women's Institutes for their first Singing Festival in 1950. It was the first time the National Federation had commissioned a work for a special occasion and Vaughan Williams was their preferred choice of composer. He knew that the amateur forces to be performing this work would consist of a large number of women divided into three classes - a lower body for unison singing, a group for partsinging and a smaller more technically skilled ensemble for unaccompanied passages. The work was conceived with these three groups in mind.
Composing a 'Folk-Song Cantata' enabled Vaughan Williams to draw on his deep knowledge of English folk-song. He found in the calendar the necessary unifying roles to bind the work together. As Vaughan Williams put it "The subject of our folk-songs, whether they deal with romance, tragedy, conviviality or loyalty, have a background of nature and its seasons". He chose folk-songs from his own collection, gathered over forty years earlier - between 1904 and 1910 - as well as folk-songs collected by his friends such as Lucy Broadwood, Cecil Sharp and George Butterworth. Vaughan Williams thoroughly enjoyed reminding himself of these lovely tunes - melodies which had so deeply changed the contours, colour and texture of his own music, providing him with a characteristic and immediately recognisable personal style.

The first performance took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 June 1950, with the Women's Institute forces joined by the London Symphony Orchestra, under Sir Adrian Boult. As Ursula Vaughan Williams remembered "the audience seemed far fewer than the performers". She also remarked on the "freshness and sweetness" of the voices.

The folk-songs used in the Cantata are as follows:

Prologue:

[1] To the Plough Boy (All voices with semi-chorus) Collected by Vaughan Williams in 1904, this is a lively opening song as the chorus exclaim that we should 'sing and be merry withal'.

I. Spring

1. [2] Early in the Spring (For three voices, unaccompanied) A sweetly lyrical love-song, delicately orchestrated.
2. [3] The Lark in the morning (For two voices) A gracious folk-ballad confirming that there is "no life like the plough-boys in the month of May". The orchestration is reminiscent of the Flower-Girls passages in The Poisoned Kiss.
3. [4] May Song (For full chorus with semi-chorus) A lovely folk-song, from Lucy Broadwood's collection English County Songs, also used to memorable effect by Vaughan Williams in his ballad opera Hugh the Drover.

II Summer:

1. [5] Summer is a-coming in and The Cuckoo (Full chorus and semi-chorus) Vaughan Williams enjoyed the inclusion of Summer is a-coming in. He described it as supposedly by a 13th century monk - "John of Forncete but in its freedom and grace it was really a folk-tune". The Cuckoo is from Cecil Sharp's collection, providing a gentle contrast with the boisterous Summer is a-coming in.
2. [6] The Sprig of Thyme (Full chorus, with descant) Collected by Vaughan Williams in 1904 this is a lyrical song full of flower symbolism - 'let no-one steal your thyme' (virginity).
3. [7] The Sheep Shearing (For two voices, unaccompanied) A sweet, plaintive melody, from Cecil Sharp's collection, also used most evocatively by Holst in his Somerset Rhapsody. Holst said it was his favourite folk-song.

4. [8] The Green Meadow (Unison - all voices) Also known as The Lawyer, it is taken from George Butterworth's collection and has this tranquillo closing verse: And now she is a poor man's wife Her husband dearly loves her She lives a sweet contented life No lady in town is above her

III Autumn: 1. [9] John Barleycorn (Full chorus and semichorus)

1. [9] John Barleycorn (Full chorus and semichorus) A ballad of the corn-spirit, celebrating the rebirth of the corn the following Spring. Vaughan Williams quoted this folk song in his English Folk Song Suite for military band in 1924 as well as in the music to the film The People's Land (1943).
2. [10] The Unquiet Grave (For three voices unaccompanied) A most moving and poignant folk-song which Vaughan Williams included within Autumn for the reason, as he put it, that "The young maiden meets her dead lover among the storms and cold winds of Autumn".
3. [11] An Acre of Land (All voices, unison) A harvest ballad, marked allegro commodo, lovingly orchestrated by Vaughan Williams.
IV Winter: 1. [12] Children's Christmas Song (In two-part harmony)
1. [12] Children's Christmas Song (In two-part harmony) An orchestral introduction leads to the plea that at Christmas: 'Pray think of us, poor children, who wander in the mire'.
2. [13] Wassail Song (Unison, with descant) A Gloucestershire drinking song to encourage a good crop of corn next season. Vaughan Williams included this carol in his Five English Folk Songs of 1913.

3. [14] In Bethlehem City (For three voice, unaccompanied) Vaughan Williams was to return to this folk-carol in his last work, The First Nowell. It is adapted from A Virgin most pure.

4. [15] God Bless the Master (Unison, with descant) From the Sussex Mummer's Carol, a firm favourite of Vaughan Williams: God bless your house Your children, too This uplifting and noble carol ends Vaughan Williams' labour of love.

In Windsor Forest

Ursula Vaughan Williams always said the The Merry Wives of Windsor was Vaughan Williams' favourite Shakespeare play. He had known the play since arranging music for a production in Stratford in 1913 as part of Frank Benson's company. He had included English folk-songs in his arrangements, most notably Greensleeves in both Richard II and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Vaughan Williams began to compose his own Falstaff opera - Sir John in Love - based on The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1924 and the work was completed by 1928. It was first performed in 1929 at the Royal College of Music, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. Vaughan Williams interpolated into the text various lyrics from Elizabethan poets as well as from other Shakespeare plays. His poetry source was Norman Ault's book of Elizabethan Lyrics (1925). He considered a wide range of poems for chorus or as solo songs, searching in particular for lyrics for 'sweet Anne Page'. Thus in the opera we have, for example, settings of Ben Jonson (See the Chariot at hand here of love) and Thomas Middleton (Weep eyes, break heart) alongside the Shakespeare. It provides a rich and expressive libretto of which Vaughan Williams felt proud. Sir John in Love is a wonderfully lyrical and heart-warming opera, marking an advance on Hugh the Drover (1924) in depth and character development without losing the vitality and romance of the earlier ballad-opera. Believing, rightly as it turned out, that there would be few performances of the opera, Vaughan Williams adapted the Cantata In Windsor Forest from the opera in order to provide a practical alternative for mixed chorus and orchestra, thus (hopefully) avoiding complete neglect. The Cantata was first performed in 1931. The arrangement on this recording, for women's voices, was made by Guthrie Foote, Production Manager at the Oxford University Press, in 1954 in collaboration with the composer. Whereas Vaughan Williams own arrangement had five songs, Foote omitted the second - Drinking Song - presumably on the grounds that the words (Back and side go bare etc) did not suit the women's only setting!

The four songs are as follows:
(16) The Conspiracy (Sigh no more ,ladies) With words by Shakespeare, from Act 2 of Much Ado about Nothing, this is a delightfully fresh and vital chorus with the telling final line: 'Men were deceivers ever'.
(17) Falstaff and the Fairies (Round about in a fair ring-a) Falstaff is deep in the forest, surrounded by the chorus disguised as fairies. The solo soprano (Anne Page in the opera) exhorts the fairies to 'pinch him to your time', to a jaunty Allegro
(18) Wedding Chorus (See the Chariot at hand) Arranged for three-part chorus, this is a ravishing setting of the Ben Jonson lyric. The setting fits the poem so well that it is hard, once heard, to read the poem without hearing Vaughan Williams glorious melody.
(19) Epilogue (Whether men do laugh or weep) With words from Campion and Rossetter's Book of Airs, this is an uplifting conclusion to both the opera and to the Cantata as the chorus sing 'And the world is but a play'.

© Stephen Connock
Vice President - Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and Chairman - Albion Records

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