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No.29 Feb 2004 Revised 2/2/04 11:53 Page 1 Journal of the No.29 February 2004 EDITORS Guest Editor for this edition: John Bawden Stephen Connock RVWSociety (see address below) ‘AN EXCELLENT YEAR’ In this issue... Members of the RVW Society heard much good news at our AGM on Sunday 12 October. As John RVW Hymn Tunes Francis, Treasurer, put it: ‘Once again the Society has had an excellent year – with members’ subscriptions and sales of books at record levels’. John was also cautious about the future – it was ● Vaughan Williams and the a novelty to have built up some reserves but we could not relax too much. We were publishing two Hymnals – a new perspective new books and hoped to sponsor recordings in due course. Having said that, John Francis concluded by confirming that our financial position was healthy. by John Bawden Page . 2 Success in the year Stephen Connock had opened the AGM by reporting on notable successes for the Society during the ● year, including the two-day conference jointly organised with the Elgar Society called A Special Two obscure Hymn Tunes of Flame. With the launch in October of The Poisoned Kiss, the Society had also stimulated a world Ralph Vaughan Williams premiere recording of a quite beautiful work. Members who have not heard this wonderful set by John Barr should hesitate no longer! Page . 14 ● Hymn Tune Descants by Clark Kimberling Page . 17 and more . CHAIRMAN Stephen Connock MBE 65 Marathon House 200 Marylebone Road London NW1 5PL Tel: 01728 454820 Fax: 01728 454873 [email protected] With both There was a time and a new edition of Ursula Vaughan Williams’s poetry being published, TREASURER the Society continues to launch new projects to support our charitable goals. Long may it continue! John Francis Lindeyer Francis Ferguson North House Membership growth 198 High Street David Betts, our Membership Secretary, confirmed that membership continues to grow and we now Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1BE had 608 members – an increase of 47 over last year. We need more! Members were urged – as Tel: 01732 360200 always – to help stimulate membership by approaching their contacts. Regional activities will grow [email protected] in importance for our members worldwide. SECRETARY Then let us be merry, cast sorrow aside Dr. David Betts As we approach our 10th anniversary in 2004, we have reasons to be proud. We have an excellent Tudor Cottage group of Trustees – to which we extend a welcome to Emma Marshall and Martin Murray who were 30 Tivoli Road elected at the AGM – as well as Regional Chairmen. Our members provide superb support to the Brighton Society in general and to the Journal in particular. Hopefully our 10th anniversary will be an East Sussex opportunity for consolidation and celebration. BN1 5BH Tel: 01273 501118 Date of next AGM : Sunday 10 October 2004. [email protected] www.rvwsociety.com Charity No. 1017175 No.29 Feb 2004 Revised 2/2/04 11:53 Page 2 Vaughan Williams and the Hymnals - a new perspective by John Bawden Part 1: A survey It is now nearly fifty years since Vaughan Williams died, yet the extent Sources: i) Michael Kennedy: The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams; and significance of his work on hymnals – and I shall use the word ii) Music Department, Oxford University Press ‘hymnal’ throughout to refer to carol books as well as hymn-books - has still not been fully recognised. While the composer's use of folk song as Note: Successive hymnals reproduced existing material from a basic element of a new national English music has been well preceding volumes, therefore only the additional new tunes and documented, his work on hymnals has received comparatively little arrangements written by Vaughan Williams are indicated here. attention. It is my contention that, despite his lifelong agnosticism, All of the books contained significant numbers of his tunes. Vaughan Williams dedicated significant amounts of his time to the editing of a succession of hymnals because they offered an ideal means Vaughan Williams’ decision to edit the music of a series of major of propagating his concept of a national music through one of the nation’s hymnals not only signified his long-term commitment to improving the most influential cultural institutions, and because he recognised their music of what he considered to be a vital part of the English musical unique importance as a music of the people. His motivation was therefore heritage; it also presented him with an opportunity to develop his concept primarily cultural and social rather than religious. Furthermore, his of a national music within the context of the hymnal. His vision was of a continuing identification with a succession of major hymnals contributed music that would be ‘the expression of the soul of the nation...a people significantly towards the projection of his own image as a national spiritually bound together by language, environment, history, and 2 composer. common ideals and, above all, a continuity with the past’. Having produced the ground-breaking English Hymnal, VW might well When in 1904 Vaughan Williams have been expected to decline other approaches from Percy Dearmer or accepted the Reverend Percy Dearmer’s The Oxford University Press in order to be able to continue working invitation to edit the music of The English without further interruption on his own compositions. After all, Martin Hymnal he evidently had considerable and Geoffrey Shaw, two very able and influential musicians and doubts about the wisdom of taking on educators who were both colleagues of Dearmer, were available. Martin such a task, with the consequent was invited to be joint Music Editor of Songs of Praise, The Oxford Book suspension of his own composition for of Carols and Songs of Praise Enlarged, and both brothers made major the two whole years that would be needed contributions to the two versions of Songs of Praise. Therefore it must in order to do the job properly. He later have been a conscious choice on Vaughan Williams’ part to continue remarked ‘I wondered then if I was taking on the responsibility of working on the hymnals himself, despite wasting my time. But I know now that two years of close association with the priorities of his own composition. He evidently considered the work some of the best (as well as some of the worst) tunes in the world was a to be unfinished business, and that the role of the hymnal in assisting in better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues.’ 1 his mission to establish a national music had not come to an end with the publication of The English Hymnal. The Hymnals The major publications of which Vaughan Williams was either music This is borne out by the developing nature of the hymnal work, as I shall editor or joint music editor were The English Hymnal (1906), Songs of show. It was not simply a question of ‘more of the same’. The English Praise (1925), The Oxford Book of Carols (1928) and Songs of Praise Hymnal laid the firm foundations of Vaughan Williams cultural Enlarged (1931). In addition to these four principal volumes there were nationalism, Songs of Praise was more overtly nationalist in its contents some ten lesser collections that were mainly derived from one or other of and The Oxford Book of Carols brought the principles and disciplines of the parent volumes. Between 1906 and 1954 he wrote some twenty both books to bear upon the neglected carol repertoire. Songs of Praise original hymn tunes and arranged nearly one hundred and eighty others, Enlarged went even further in its wholehearted espousal of an as well as undertaking the considerable task of selecting and editing other unashamedly English content. tunes from the vast number available. The two main periods of his hymnal editing were from 1904 (when he began work on EH) to 1911, The literature and from 1925 to 1936. In varying degrees of intensity, then, the work on Surprisingly, none of the existing literature on the composer addresses hymnals was spread over a total of eighteen years (see Table 1). the full extent and significance of this hymn-related work. It seems either to be ignored by most commentators, or, at best, viewed as little more Table 1: Hymnals of which Vaughan Williams was music Editor than a series of isolated, minor episodes punctuating the main events of his life. Any attention that is given to VW’s hymnal work is almost Year Title Editors Vaughan Williams’ new tunes and arrangements 1906 The English Hymnal Percy Dearmer; RVW 4 new tunes, 64 new arrangements exclusively confined to The English Hymnal, and even then very largely 1907 The English Hymnal (abridged Percy Dearmer; RVW None in the sole context of its inter-relationship with his folksong collecting. edition) 1911 Church Songs S. Baring-Gould; None H. Fleetwood Sheppard; RVW 1925 Songs of Praise Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 5 new tunes, 20 new arrangements The early biographical studies written during the composer’s lifetime -. Shaw 1928 The Oxford Book of Carols Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 4 new tunes, 23 new arrangements Hubert Foss (1950), Percy Young (1953), Frank Howes (1954) and Shaw 1929 Songs of Praise for Boys & Girls Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 1 new tune, 6 new arrangements Simona Pakenham (1957) – make no more than a passing reference to the Shaw hymnals. Although A.E.F.Dickinson’s 1963 study contains a whole 1930 Hymns for Sunday School Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None Anniversaries and other special RVW; Martin Shaw chapter devoted to Hymnody, mostly given over to The English Hymnal, occasions 1931 Songs of Praise Enlarged Percy Dearmer; RVW; Martin 5 new tunes, 8 new arrangements with a page or two on Songs of Praise and a paragraph on The Oxford Shaw 1932 Songs of Praise for Little Percy Dearmer; George Briggs; None Book of Carols, it is largely a survey of Vaughan Williams’ sources, his Children RVW; Martin Shaw original tunes and arrangements, with an appraisal of the appropriateness 1933 The English Hymnal revised Percy Dearmer; RVW 8 new arrangements, and many arrangements imported from SP of some of the pairings of tunes and words.