Introduction:
I often turn to Simona Pakenham’s Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Discovery of his
Music (1957) when I need to gain an overview of one of the composer’s
works. Pakenham declared that she sought to ‘pass on to ordinary listeners like myself some of the joy I
discovered when I found out the existence of Vaughan Williams,’ (cited, 9 December
2010 Daily Telegraph). She writes: ‘[In the Fen Country] is a work of some
importance, for it bears the outward shape of so many of his compositions –
that of a gradual ascent from a grey, still quietness to a glowing climax and
back again to silence.’ Another interesting observation is her belief that the
landscape of the ‘flat land of East Anglia…would seem to have had a more
lasting effect on the pictorial landscape painting of Vaughan Williams’s music
than the lusher beauty of his own Gloucestershire.’
She
concludes her evaluation of the work by suggesting it is ‘a truthful impression
of that flat wind-swept East Coast, where the largest wildflowers in England
grow and the most romantic wading birds inhabit, and which you either loathe,
or love from the bottom of your soul.’
One of the latest assessments of the work is by Em Marshall in Music in the Landscape (2011). In the Fen Country was ‘The earliest work to demonstrate the suffusion of folksong into his [RVWs] own voice...’ Marshall writes that:
‘It
features folk-like melodies of Vaughan Williams’s own invention, and the
pastoral feel is reinforced by the use of the bucolic and rural-sounding oboe,
generating an air of mystery. The result is a work that exudes the spaciousness
and tranquillity of the broad, flat countryside with which the composer was so
familiar.’
Genesis: The facts about In the Fen Country, Symphonic Impression (originally Prelude) for Orchestra are straightforward. The work was subject to a number of revisions. Michael Kennedy (1996) quotes an inscription on the final page of the manuscript: ‘Finished April 10, 1904’; ‘Revised Feb. 28, 1905’; ‘Again revised Dec. 21st, 1905’; ‘Further revised July 29th, 1907’; ‘Orchestration revised 1935’.
The
work was dedicated to R.L.W., the composer’s cousin Sir Ralph Wedgewood. The MS
of the full score and piano arrangement is lodged in the British Library. These
carry the title in French: ‘Dans les landes d’Angleterre, Impression
Symphonique.’ In the Fen Country is
scored for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2
bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass tuba, timpani, solo violin, and
strings. The full score was not published until 1969 (Oxford University Press).
In the Fen Country was composed at a time when Vaughan Williams had begun to collect folksong in the Eastern counties of England. In December 1903 he visited Charles Potiphar’s cottage in the Essex town of Ingrave and heard ‘Bushes and Briars.’ Further work was done in Surrey and even Barton Street in Westminster. The early part of 1904 saw RVW collecting in Essex once again. The ‘field days’ to Norfolk did not begin until January 1905 and to Cambridgeshire in August 1906.
Other
works written at this time included in 1903, Willow-Wood for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) and orchestra (or
piano), the well-loved songs ‘Silent Noon’ and ‘Orpheus with his Lute’, and the
Quintet in C minor. The following year saw the Symphonic Rhapsody (manuscript
destroyed), the Ballade and Scherzo for string quintet and the two important
song cycles The House of Life (Dante
Gabriel Rossetti) and Songs of Travel
(Robert Louis Stevenson). During this period Vaughan Williams composed two of a
projected Four Impressions for Orchestra: ‘Burley Heath’ and ‘The Solent’
(1903) as well as Two Impressions for Orchestra, ‘Harnham Down’ and ‘Boldre
Wood.’ (1904). The three extant works (‘Boldre Wood’ does not survive) have
been successfully revived in recent years.
I believe that the clue to the genesis of In the Fen Country lies in Vaughan Williams’ exploration of the Cambridgeshire countryside whilst studying at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1892-95. Ursula Vaughan Williams (1964) writes that during this period ‘One winter, the frosts were so hard that is was possible to skate from Cambridge to Ely,’ implying that Vaughan Williams made this journey. Ely was an important focal point for RVW - he often travelled there to attend Choral Matins on summer Sundays. She recalls that ‘the exciting moment when the towered hill [Ely Cathedral] appeared from the surrounding fens was one that never ceased to delight him.’ This topography is more pertinent to the music than Pakenham’s ‘…flat wind-swept East Coast…’
It is not possible to recover the early incarnations of In the Fen Country, nor I believe would it be wise to. Unlike the orchestral works written prior to this, RVW had a soft spot for the work, which clearly led him to make a number of revisions as his compositional technique matured. Hubert Foss (1950) proposes that ‘Nothing we can do now will bring back to us those first sounds, the spirits of those players.’ Foss muses poetically that the ‘frigid, misty mornings that make the journey from Cambridge to Ely so soul-searching a trek are portrayed here.’ Like Pakenham, he points out that the landscape of Severn and Gloucestershire are ignored in this work. He remarks that: ‘In this flat and watery part of England the sea is always near, the waters seep into the land, the tang of Holland [presumably the historical subdivision of Lincolnshire and not the Netherlands] stings the nostrils.’
Premiere: The premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s In the Fen Country was given at the Queen’s Hall on 22 February 1909. Thomas Beecham conducted the newly constituted The Beecham Orchestra. Vaughan Williams’ orchestral work was up against formidable opposition. Other works heard that night included Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and his ‘Te Deum,’ Roland Rogers’ part-song ‘Storm’ and Frederick Delius’ Sea Drift. The soloist in this last work was the baritone, Frederic Austin. The choral parts were sung by the North Staffordshire Choral Society. It is interesting that Beecham was no lover of the folk-song school of music, yet he did take RVWs work to heart and gave occasional performances of this work well into his later years.
The reviewer of the premiere in The Times (23 February 1909) noted that:
‘Dr. Vaughan Williams’s new work is called a ‘symphonic
impression’ and has for title ‘In the Fen Country.’ It is something more than a
musical landscape, and though the theme is fragrant of the soil, it appears to
be only in the style of folk-music, not an actual specimen. The treatment of
the theme and its derivation is remarkably powerful, and all the composer’s orchestral
devices make their full effect. His progressions are often bold but are never
impertinent; and if all the new school of composers knew how to use their tools
as well as he does, the outlook for the future would be a good deal brighter
than it is.’
He concludes
by regretting that there was not ‘a huge audience to welcome the [re]formation
of a fifth regular orchestra in London.’
The Athenaeum (27 February 1909) reported the novelty at Mr. Thomas Beecham’s ‘first concert of his second series on Monday evening’. The ‘theme heard both at the beginning and the end of the tone-poem clearly indicates a plaintive mood, and so, indeed, do all the fresh themes introduced.’ The reviewer laments the fact that the composer has ‘given no clue beyond the title’ as to the works inspiration. He submits that the more the listener hears ‘modern music,’ the more a programme is needed, especially when the work is an ‘Impression.’ Other genres include sonatas, rondos and song-form pieces which allows the listener to follow the progress of the music. When a work is based on a text or ‘as it seems here, a pictorial basis’ it ought to be revealed to the listener ‘since form and mood or moods are determined by it.’ Without the formal structure or the text, there is a danger that the score is ‘…bound to be, and to remain vague.’ He concedes that ‘Dr. Williams’s music…is cleverly put together and picturesque in its scoring.’
The less-than-enthusiastic review in The Observer (28 February 1909) proposed that In the Fen Country:
‘…is almost
insidiously egotistical in the manner in which it keeps to the little modal
theme forming the basis of its structure. The composer has such a quivering
sensitiveness for the affected turns and graces of his tune that the delicate
harmonic devices with which he clothes it scarcely suffice to disguise its
naïve candour.’ He finishes by noting that the ‘work was pleasant enough
hearing.’
The Musical Times (April 1909) commented:
A 'symphonic
impression ' - as it was styled in the programme - In the Fen Country, by Dr. Vaughan Williams, was performed for the
first time, and is a highly creditable product of the composer's thoughtful and
imaginative attainments. It is a meditative and moody composition relieved by a
fine, strong climax, which, if not of obvious significance, is at least fully
interesting as absolute music.’
Day, James, Master Musicians: Ralph Vaughan Williams 3rd Edition, (Oxford University Press, 1998)
Dickinson A.E.F., Vaughan Williams (London, Faber & Faber, 1963)
Foss, Hubert, Vaughan Williams: A Study (London, Harrap, 1950)
Frogley, Alain, (ed.) Vaughan Williams Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Frogley, Alain & Thomson, Aidan J. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams, (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
Howes, Frank, The Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Oxford University Press, 1954)
Kennedy, Michael, A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams 2nd Edition, (Oxford University Press, 1996)
Marshall, Em, Music in the Landscape (London, Robert Hale, 2011).
Pakenham, Simona, Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Discovery of his Music (London, Macmillan & Co. Ltd, 1957)
Vaughan Williams, Ursula, R. V. W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams, (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1964)
The files of The Musical Times, The Times, The Manchester Guardian, The Athenaeum, The Gramophone etc.
To be continued…
With thanks to the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal, Issue 65 February 2016 where this essay was first published.
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