Flos Campi

Last updated

Flos Campi: Suite for Solo Viola, Small Chorus, and Small Orchestra is a composition by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, completed in 1925. Its title is Latin for "flower of the field." It is neither a concerto nor a choral piece, although it prominently features the viola and a wordless choir. The piece is divided into six movements, played without pause, each headed by a verse from the Song of Solomon:

  1. Sicut Lilium inter spinas (Lento)
  2. Jam enim hiems transiit (Andante con moto - quarter note = 104)
  3. Quaesivi quem diligit anima mea (Lento - Allegro moderato)
  4. En lectulum Salomonis (Moderato alla marcia - quarter note = 90)
  5. Revertere, revertere Sulamitis! (Andante quasi lento)
  6. Pone me ut signaculum (Moderato tranquillo) [1]

As in his Sinfonia antartica , the quotations are intended to be read by the listener and are not part of the performance. The quotations are: [2]

MovementLatin textEnglish translation
1Sicut Lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias … Fulcite me floribus, stipate me malis, quia amore langueo."As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters … Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick with love."
2Jam enim hiems transiit; imber abiit, et recessit; Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra, Tempus putationis advenit; Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra."For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land."
3Quaesivi quem diligit anima mea; quaesivi illum, et non inveni … 'Adjuro vos, filiae Jerusalem, si inveneritis dilectum meum, ut nuntietis et quia amore langueo' … Quo abiit dilectus tuus, O pulcherrima mulierum? Quo declinavit dilectus tuus? et quaeremus eum tecum."I sought him whom my soul loveth, but I found him not … 'I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick with love' … Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee."
4En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt … omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi."Behold his bed [palanquin], which is Solomon's, three score valiant men are about it … They all hold swords, being expert in war."
5Revertere, revertere Sulamitis! Revertere, revertere ut intueamur te … Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis."Return, return, O Shulamite! Return, return, that we may look upon thee … How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O Prince's daughter."
6Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum."Set me as a seal upon thine heart."

In addition to the solo viola, the score calls for flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, percussion (bass drum, tabor, cymbals, and triangle), harp, celesta, and strings (not to number more than: 6 first violins, 6 second violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, and 2 double basses). The eight-part chorus should consist of 20 to 26 singers (six to eight each of sopranos and altos plus four or five each of tenors and basses). [3] The work lasts approximately 20 minutes. [4]

The opening bars of the piece, which consist of a duet between the solo viola and the oboe, are well known as a classic example of bitonality.

The first performance of Flos Campi, on 10 October 1925, was conducted by Sir Henry Wood, with the Queen's Hall Orchestra, violist Lionel Tertis (the dedicatee), and voices from the Royal College of Music. [5] Initial reactions to the piece were mixed; Gustav Holst, a fellow composer and close friend of Vaughan Williams, said he "couldn't get hold of it," for which he was disappointed more with himself than with the work. Over time, however, it has become an accepted part of the musical canon even if infrequently performed.

In a program note for a 1927 performance, Vaughan Williams admitted that "The title Flos Campi was taken by some to connote an atmosphere of 'buttercups and daisies....'" [6] In reality, the piece is unabashedly sensual and lushly orchestrated, which is quite appropriate considering its subject matter.

Related Research Articles

<i>Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis</i> 1910 composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, also known as the Tallis Fantasia, is a one-movement work for string orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The theme is by the 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis. The Fantasia was first performed at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the 1910 Three Choirs Festival, and has entered the orchestral repertoire, with frequent concert performances and recordings by conductors and orchestras of various countries.

Serenade to Music is an orchestral concert work completed in 1938 by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, written as a tribute to conductor Sir Henry Wood. It features an orchestra and 16 vocal soloists, with lyrics adapted from the discussion about music and the music of the spheres from Act V, Scene I from the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Vaughan Williams later arranged the piece into versions for chorus and orchestra and solo violin and orchestra.

Sinfonia antartica is the Italian title given by Ralph Vaughan Williams to his seventh symphony, first performed in 1953. It drew on incidental music the composer had written for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic.

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34, is a 1945 musical composition by Benjamin Britten with a subtitle Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. It was based on the second movement, "Rondeau", of the Abdelazer suite. It was originally commissioned for the British educational documentary film called Instruments of the Orchestra released on 29 November 1946, directed by Muir Mathieson and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent; Sargent also conducted the concert première on 15 October 1946 with the Liverpool Philharmonic in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England.

Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 3, published as Pastoral Symphony and not numbered until later, was completed in 1922. Vaughan Williams's initial inspiration to write this symphony came during World War I after hearing a bugler practising and accidentally playing an interval of a seventh instead of an octave; this ultimately led to the trumpet cadenza in the second movement.

The Concerto in F Minor for Bass Tuba and Orchestra by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was written in 1954 for Philip Catelinet, principal tubist of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), who together gave the premiere on 13 June 1954 with Sir John Barbirolli conducting. The same musicians made the work’s first recording that same year. This concerto was the first concerto written for solo tuba.

<i>Sancta Civitas</i> Oratorio by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Sancta Civitas is an oratorio by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Written between 1923 and 1925, it was his first major work since the Mass in G minor two years previously. Vaughan Williams began working on the piece from a rented furnished house in the village of Danbury, Essex, found for him by his former pupil, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs.

The Concerto in A minor for Oboe and Strings was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1943–44 for the oboist Léon Goossens, to whom the score is dedicated.

Antonín Dvořák's Requiem in B minor, Op. 89, B. 165, is a funeral Mass scored for soloists, choir and orchestra. It was composed in 1890 and performed for the first time on 9 October 1891, in Birmingham, England, with the composer conducting.

The Strathclyde Concertos are a series of ten orchestral works by the English composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

Zdeněk Lukáš was a Czech composer. He authored over 330 works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Power</span> Musical artist

Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.

The Suite for Viola and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams is a work in eight movements for solo viola and orchestra composed in 1933 and 1934. The Suite is dedicated to violist Lionel Tertis, who premiered the work on November 12, 1934 at the Queen's Hall in London under the baton of Malcolm Sargent. A typical performance lasts about 23 minutes.

Six Studies in English Folk Song is a piece of chamber music written by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1926. It is a collection of six English folk songs set for cello and piano. Each song follows the same format: presentation of the tune in the solo line, followed by a full iteration of the folk song in the piano with an ornamented solo line.

<i>This England</i> (album) 2012 album by the Oregon Symphony

This England is a classical music album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar, released by Dutch record label PentaTone Classics in November 2012. The album was recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, at five performances in February and May 2012. It contains works by three English 20th-century composers: Edward Elgar's Cockaigne , Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5, and "Four Sea Interludes" and "Passacaglia" from Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes. The recording was the orchestra's second under Kalmar's leadership, following Music for a Time of War (2011), which also included works by Britten and Vaughan Williams. This England received positive critical reception but failed to chart.

<i>The Lark Ascending</i> (Vaughan Williams) Musical composition by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Lark Ascending is a short, single-movement work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by the 1881 poem of the same name by the English writer George Meredith. It was originally for violin and piano, completed in 1914, but not performed until 1920. The composer reworked it for solo violin and orchestra after the First World War. This version, in which the work is chiefly known, was first performed in 1921. It is subtitled "A Romance", a term that Vaughan Williams favoured for contemplative slow music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marius Flothuis</span> Musical artist

Marius Flothuis, born and died in Amsterdam, was a Dutch composer, musicologist and music critic.

References

  1. Vaughan Williams, Ralph, Flos campi orchestral score, Oxford University Press, 1928
  2. ibid
  3. Kennedy, Michael (1982). A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Second Ed. Oxford University Press. p. 105. ISBN   9780193154520.
  4. ibid, p. 106
  5. ibid, p. 106
  6. quoted in ibid, p. 107