RVW: In the Fen Country (1904)
This orchestral tone poem was described by Vaughan Williams as a “symphonic impression,” and it was the first of his orchestral works to be sanctioned by him for publication. The first version of the work was completed in April 1904, with subsequent revisions continuing as late as 1935.
Vaughan Williams had begun collecting folk songs two years earlier, in 1902; and, although none of the tunes he collected are featured in this work, their pastoral effect on his composition is clear. From the somber opening notes of the English horn to the closing violin solo, In the Fen Country is a darkly Romantic work. Robert Cummings of AllMusic.com calls it “a successful minor composition from a young and still developing composer.”
Geographical Note: This tone poem is meant to depict the bleak and lonely landscape of England’s fen country, the marshy regions of East Anglia.
“While this is not my favorite of his orchestral works, I think Vaughan Williams effectively expressed the alternating cruelty and beauty of Nature. I’ve long wanted to visit the fen countries of England (largely because of Beatrix Potter’s work there), but, until then, Vaughan Williams has given me a musical transportation. I have the impression of wildly lovely and lonely place.”
Photograph: Wicken Fen in England. Credit.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012