Vaughan Williams Songs

Vaughan Williams songs I studied as a student:


"Linden Lea", song (1901)

The House of Life, six sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, set to music (1904)

Songs of Travel (1904)

"The Sky Above The Roof" (1908)

On Wenlock Edge, song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet (1909)

Along the Field, for tenor and violin

Three Poems by Walt Whitman for baritone and piano (1920)

Four Poems by Fredegond Shove: for baritone and piano (1922)

Four Hymns (1914)

Merciless Beauty for tenor, two violins, and cello

Four Last Songs to poems of Ursula Vaughan Williams

Ten Blake songs, song cycle for high voice and oboe (1957)

From far, from eve and morning
And yon twelve-winded sky,
The stuff of life to knit me
Blew hither: here am I.

Now - for a breath I tarry
Nor yet disperse apart -
Take my hand quick and tell me,
What have you in your heart.

Speak now, and I will answer;
How shall I help you, say;
Ere to the wind's twelve quarters
I take my endless way.

"Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"

Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

"Is football playing
Along the river shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?"

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal.

"Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?"

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

"Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?"

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

Oh, when I was in love with you,
Then I was clean and brave,
And miles around the wonder grew
How well did I behave.

And now the fancy passes by,
And nothing will remain,
And miles around they'll say that I
Am quite myself again.

In summertime on Bredon
The bells they sound so clear;
Round both the shires they ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy noise to hear.

Here of a Sunday morning
My love and I would lie,
And see the coloured counties,
And hear the larks so high
About us in the sky.

The bells would ring to call her
In valleys miles away;
"Come all to church, good people;
Good people come and pray."
But here my love would stay.

And I would turn and answer
Among the springing thyme,
"Oh, peal upon our wedding,
And we will hear the chime,
And come to church in time."

But when the snows at Christmas
On Bredon top were strown,
My love rose up so early
And stole out unbeknown
And went to church alone.

They tolled the one bell only,
Groom there was none to see,
The mourners followed after,
And so to church went she,
And would not wait for me.

The bells they sound on Bredon,
And still the steeples hum,
"Come all to church, good people."
O noisy bells, be dumb;
I hear you, I will come.

In valleys of springs and rivers,
By Ony and Teme and Clun,
The country for easy livers,
The quietest under the sun,

We still had sorrows to lighten,
One could not be always glad,
And lads knew trouble at Knighton
When I was a Knighton lad.

By bridges that Thames runs under,
In London, the town built ill,
'Tis sure small matter for wonder
If sorrow is with one still.

And if as a lad grows older
The troubles he bears are more,
He carries his griefs on a shoulder
That handselled them long before.

Where shall one halt to deliver
This luggage I'd lief set down?
Not Thames, not Teme is the river,
Nor London nor Knighton the town:

'Tis a long way further than Knighton,
A quieter place than Clun,
Where doomsday may thunder and lighten
And little 'twill matter to one.

An opera is more than just a collection of songs of course. It has action and dialogue too. Vaughan Williams wrote several operas over his lifetime. Here is a list of them:

Hugh the Drover (otherwise known as Love in the Stocks) (1910-20).This is a Romantic opera in ballad style. The libretto is by Harold Child.

Sir John in Love (1924-28), this includes an arrangement by "Ralph Greaves" of Fantasia on "Greensleeves"

The Poisoned Kiss was written between 1927-29. Vaughan Williams made revisions in 1936-37 and later in 1956-57. The libretto was written by Evelyn Sharp but later amended by the composer and his wife Ursula Vaughan Williams who was herself a poet.

Riders to the Sea (1925-32). This was based on a play by John Millington Synge.

The Pilgrim's Progress (1909-51), which seems to have taken a lifetime to finish, was based on John Bunyan's allegory.

Ralph Vaughan Williams also wrote The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains (1921). He wrote the libretto himself, based on John Bunyan. Later this was incorporated into The Pilgrim's Progress except for the final section.

There have been one or two queries under "free sheet music downloads". I don't think that Vaughan Williams' music is prohibitively priced, but I also appreciate that students can be very short of money so I am writing this advisory paragraph.

The first thing to remember is that all of Vaughan Williams' music is still under copyright in Europe and the UK although it is public domain in the USA and Canada. It may be possible to track down some US arrangements on the sibelius music site. Use the search engine they provide. There might be free or cheap arrangements, although the legality is dubious.

Secondly, why not sign up to freecycle.org? It is a site powered by Yahoo where people advertise stuff they no longer need. Sometimes clearing out a relative's house might turn up a pile of old sheet music. Putting it on Ebay is costly and time consuming so it may just be given away!

Thirdly, your local library will have access to sheet music and score which you can borrow for free. Tracking them down might cost pennies. Hiring parts for a performance supports the composer's charity set up to promote musicians.

I hope you find this useful for ideas.