The Influences of English Folk Music on Vaughan Williams’ ‘On Wenlock Edge’
Born in 1872 in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, to a wealthy family, Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer, whose works included operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces, and orchestral compositions, including 9 symphonies. His influences derived somewhat directly from English folk music and Tudor music, as he attempted to break British music away from the typical Germanic orchestration style and sounds of the time. Vaughan Williams, during his time at the Royal College of Music, studied with Hubert Parry and later Charles Villiers Stanford, having spent 3 years studying music and history at Trinity College, Cambridge. However, Vaughan Williams grew frustrated with the Germanic-influenced state of 19th century British music. In addition to his use of folk song tunes in his compositions, over 60 years, Vaughan Williams was one of the key musicians who contributed to the first English Folk Song revival. For over 10 years, Vaughan Williams dedicated around 30 days per year towards uncovering and accumulating different folk songs from across 21 English countries, including Essex, Norfolk, Herefordshire, and Sussex, which played a great part in particular. Whilst a few of these were recorded through a phonograph, Vaughan Williams recorded the majority of these folk tunes manually.
At the time, Britain was experiencing a strong nationalist movement, in the form of the English Folk Song revival. As the overall sense of nationalism grew, during the run-up to the First World War, the Board of Education approved the teaching of English folk songs, as part of the national curriculum, in 1906. This allowed for the creation of the English ‘national’ (or ‘pastoral school’) classical music form, as many composers held the viewpoint that, since the death of Henry Purcell, music had relied largely upon the influences and styles of the European composers, in particular the Germanic movements. There was consequently a growing desire of English musicians to break away from the grasp foreign composers had on their own nation’s culture. In 1901 Vaughan Williams had uncovered the beauty of the English folk song style, in particular those of the Tudor Period (1485-1603), and became increasingly fascinated by the folk music of his native country. In Vaughan Williams’ song cycle, ‘On Wenlock Edge’ (1909), we can hear the influences of English folk music, both through lyrics and through their melodies.
Whilst many countries’ and cultures’ folk music was rich and vivid in its emotion and harmony, such as that of Russian descent, English folk music can be seen as much more gracious, natural, and subtle. Having been originally passed down solely through the oral tradition, English folk music encompasses a large selection of important musical genres, ranging from sea shanties, to jigs and hornpipes. Throughout its history, the folk songs of different regions have contrasted both in their content and in their lyrical and melodic style. However, Ralph Vaughan Williams kept his focus largely upon maintaining the thoughtfulness, simplicity, and sobriety throughout his compositions.
In his song cycle ‘On Wenlock Edge’, we can see the English folk influence found in the lyrics. The song cycle is a group of 6 songs, consisting of poems set to music, from the 63-poem collection ‘A Shropshire Lad’, by A. E. Housman. The popularity of the poem collection derived from the feelings of emotional connection, lyricism, and overall folk elements, and hence, many composers wrote song cycles using these poems as their lyrical setting. The poems chosen by Vaughan Williams seem to share a common reminiscence and longing for lost innocence. However, his use of contrapuntal devices, rich harmonies, and relatively simplistic tonalities all allow the listener to interpret the settings in their own individual way. Upon analysis of the poem itself, ‘On Wenlock Edge’, we can see the passage riddled with Anglo-Saxon terms, such as ‘Hanger’, meaning ‘a wooded area on a slope’, in addition to the way in which Housman elaborates on the similarities of old Roman and modern Britain. Through describing how the narrator sees the woods swaying and bending in the wind, and referencing how in ancient Britain a Roman would have watched the woods of an earlier period, A. E. Housman compares how the modern British narrator and the ancient Roman and much the same. Furthermore, Housman sustains the traditional folk sentiment of the poem through his portrayal of the wind as the fundamental force of life in humans. The poem stays close to the ancient Anglo-Saxon and Roman roots of Britain, whilst maintaining a pensive and sensitive character. Through his setting of ‘On Wenlock Edge’, Vaughan Williams is able to convey the
primordial feeling whilst preserving a firm link to the natural beauty of England.
In terms of his harmony, we can find further evidence of the influence of traditional folk upon Vaughan Williams’ compositions. Firstly, in the song ‘On Wenlock Edge’, Vaughan Williams makes use of a series of typical folk harmonies, in addition to the parallel motion of chords typically found in the Impressionist music of the time. For example in bars 2 & 3, Vaughan Williams utilises the parallel movement of the tremolo chords, in order to create false relations – in bar 2, we see the false relation of the C flat against the C natural, whilst in bar 3 we see the D flat contrasting with the D natural. By using false relations, Vaughan Williams uses harmony found present in much of Tudor music, therefore maintaining the folk setting of the song. However, in Tudor Music, false relations were used in vastly different circumstances to those of Vaughan Williams’ opening bars.
Furthermore, Vaughan Williams uses quartal harmonies in his instrumental opening to ‘On Wenlock Edge’. Through his use of parallel chords in 1st inversion, he renders the 4ths open and references his stylistic use of parallel 5th chords. Throughout the Middle Ages, open 4ths were treated as consonant, before becoming heard as dissonance during the common practice period, and Vaughan Williams became a pivotal figure in the re-application of such intervallic relationships. Therefore, through his organisation of largely diatonic chords, making use of parallel motion rather than contrary, Vaughan Williams sustains his link to English traditional folk.
In addition, Vaughan Williams’ use of modes further demonstrates his English folk song influences. Such modes can be found in traditional English folk song, in addition to the early choral works, such as those of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis, the latter of which inspired Vaughan Williams’ string orchestra work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. We see an example of how Vaughan Williams uses the Dorian mode in the second movement of ‘On Wenlock Edge’: ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’. In the instrumental sections and introduction to ‘Is My Team Ploughing?’, we see Vaughan Williams’ use of D minor, however with Dorian mode influences interworked. Both in the instrumental sections, and the tenor solo (the dead man’s voice), we see the inclusion of B and C naturals much more than the B flats and C sharps found in D minor, and hence, Vaughan Williams is able to use such a mode commonly found in English folk music.
Furthermore, in the third movement of ‘On Wenlock Edge’: ‘Bredon Hill’, we hear folk-like melodies over the sustained chords, many consisting of added notes and 7ths. Vaughan Williams structures the song to allow for thoughtfulness and an emotional link to be held, through interspersing the respective stanzas with instrumental sections (interludes). The poem itself centres around the feelings of love overcome by death. The poem gained its popularity amongst the young readers, who appreciated the portrayals of pessimism, and its link between love and death. The way in which these feelings are conveyed renders the poem itself folk-like in its style.
In conclusion, the influences of folk music on Vaughan Williams centre mainly around his use of typical folk-like lyrics, harmonies, and modes, such as the dorian mode. Through choosing to set poems from the collection ‘A Shropshire Lad’ by A. E. Housman, Vaughan Williams ensured that his lyrical setting would cover the common emotions conveyed by English folk song. Through his use of folk-like harmonies, such as false relations, used often in Tudor music, in addition to quartal harmonies, Vaughan Williams maintains a link with traditional folk. Finally, through his interspersion of modal influences, such as those of the dorian mode, Vaughan Williams, creates an even stronger link to the overall folk sound and style.