RVW: Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 (1906)
Musical Note: “The Captain’s Apprentice” is a ballad—”one of the noblest and perhaps most directly tragic of English folk-songs” writes Hubert Foss—in which a sea captain abuses his young apprentice with a “garling-spikk” until the apprentice dies. The captain is surrendered a prisoner by the crew, and he warns all other sea captains “To take special care of your apprentice/ While you are on the raging sea.” Read all the lyrics at the Folkinfo site HERE.
Vaughan Williams originally intended to write a symphony, but instead wrote three rhapsodies. The second and third he later withdrew, and the first saw extensive renovation. (Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 has been recovered and recorded, and you can listen to it at YouTube HERE.)
“This is one of my favorites by Vaughan Williams. Now that I have heard the original folk songs, I am even more impressed by Vaughan Williams’s ability to make these rural tunes so sublime. Since the folk tunes are still so noticeable, I also better understand why some contemporaries thought Vaughan Williams not original enough to be considered a ‘real’ composer.”
Photographs: Seacoast in Norfolk, England. Credit. Old Norfolk Fisherman. Credit.
Friday, February 24, 2012