Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Jan Smaczny: The stuff of life' - aspects of folksong in the fabric of art music in the British Isles

also consciously allowed his own researches into folksong to enrich his musical style. In some ways the work that best epitomises these new compositional impulses in Vaughan Williams' early maturity is the song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet, On Wenlock Edge. The influence of Ravel is to be heard in the harmony and instrumental texture at many stages, notably at the very start of this song cycle in the song 'On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble' with its depiction of a high wind . The folksong impulse is more complex to define and relates quite closely to the choice of poetry used. The cycle is based on six poems from A. E. Housman's collection A Shropshire Lad

, which, since its publication in 1896, proved something of a lodestone for many British composers. The poems have a perceptible bitter-sweet melancholy often focused on lost love and youth, a quality shared with many folk ballads in currency at the time. The title of this paper is taken from the second of the poems set by Vaughan Williams, three verses which in many ways distil the inchoate longing found in much of Housman's verse: From far from eve and morning And yon twelve-winded sky, the stuff of life to knit me Blew hither: here am I. Now for a breath I tarry Nor yet disperse apart Take my hand quick and tell me, What have you in your heart. Speak now, and I will answer; How shall I help you, say; Ere to the wind's twelve quarters I take my endless way. Vaughan William' superb setting of this affective, if somewhat obscure, love song lifts it into a much more exalted category. The composer's simple, yet sophisticated musical line, energised by an ear attuned to the nuances of spoken English is the new accent Vaughan Williams had been seeking for his music. An accent fired by his native language and the way in which folksong reflects it as a very direct form of musical communication. As far as the music is concerned, 'The stuff of life' goes beyond the poetic content of the verse; in many ways it results from Vaughan Williams' tutelage under 40