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Flos Campi: suite for solo viola, small chorus and small orchestra is a composition by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams Order of Merit was an England composer of symphony, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film Film score. He was also a collector of England folk music and folk song; this also influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, which began in 1904, many folk song arrangements being set as hymn tunes,...
, 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
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
 and a wordless choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
. The piece is divided into six movements, played without pause, each headed by a verse from the Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon

The Song of Songs , is a book of the Hebrew Bible—Tanakh or Old Testament—one of the five The Five Scrolls . It is also known as the Song of Solomon or as Canticles, the latter from the shortened and anglicized Vulgate title Canticum Canticorum, "Song of Songs" in Latin language....
:
  1. Sicut Lilium in spinas (Lento)
  2. Jam enim hiems transiit (Andante con moto)
  3. Quaesivi quem diligit anima mea (Lento - Allegro moderato)
  4. Et lectulum Salomonis (Moderato alla marcia)
  5. Revertere, revertere Sulamitis! (Andante quasi lento)
  6. Pone me ut signaculum (Moderato tranquillo)


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






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Flos Campi: suite for solo viola, small chorus and small orchestra is a composition by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams Order of Merit was an England composer of symphony, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film Film score. He was also a collector of England folk music and folk song; this also influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, which began in 1904, many folk song arrangements being set as hymn tunes,...
, 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
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
 and a wordless choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
. The piece is divided into six movements, played without pause, each headed by a verse from the Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon

The Song of Songs , is a book of the Hebrew Bible—Tanakh or Old Testament—one of the five The Five Scrolls . It is also known as the Song of Solomon or as Canticles, the latter from the shortened and anglicized Vulgate title Canticum Canticorum, "Song of Songs" in Latin language....
:
  1. Sicut Lilium in spinas (Lento)
  2. Jam enim hiems transiit (Andante con moto)
  3. Quaesivi quem diligit anima mea (Lento - Allegro moderato)
  4. Et lectulum Salomonis (Moderato alla marcia)
  5. Revertere, revertere Sulamitis! (Andante quasi lento)
  6. Pone me ut signaculum (Moderato tranquillo)


As in his Sinfonia antartica, the quotations are intended to be read by the listener, and are not intended to be part of the performance. The quotations are:
  1. Sicut 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.")
  2. Jam 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 the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.")
  3. Quaesivi 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.")
  4. En 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.")
  5. Revertere, 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.")
  6. Pone 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
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
 (doubling piccolo
Piccolo

The piccolo is a small flute. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger component, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written....
), oboe
Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy"....
, clarinet
Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
, bassoon
Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the Bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher....
, horn
Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It is descended from the natural horn and is informally known as the French horn....
, trumpet
Trumpet

The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
, percussion (bass
Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....
 drum, tabor
Tábor

T?bor is a city of the Czech Republic, in the South Bohemian Region. It is named after Mount Tabor, Israel, which is believed by many to be the place of the Transfiguration of Christ; however, the name became popular and nowadays translates to "camp" or "encampment" in the Czech language....
, cymbal
Cymbal

Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture....
s, and triangle
Triangle (instrument)

The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....
), harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
, celesta
Celesta

The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard instrument. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box ....
, and strings (not to number more than 6 first violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, 5 second violins, 4 viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s, 3 cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
s, and 2 double bass
Double bass

The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
es). The eight-part chorus
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
 should consist of 20 to 26 singers (six to eight each of sopranos and altos plus four or five each of tenors and basses). The work lasts approximately 20 minutes.

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 October 10th, 1925, was conducted by Sir Henry Wood
Henry Wood (conductor)

Sir Henry Joseph Wood, Order of the Companions of Honour was an English conductor, forever associated with the The Proms which he conducted for half a century....
, with the Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall

The Queen's Hall was a european classical music concert hall in Central London, England, opened in 1893 and was beloved by Londoners until its destruction by an incendiary bomb in 1941....
 Orchestra, violist Lionel Tertis
Lionel Tertis

Lionel Tertis was an England viola and one of the first viola players to find international fame.Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, and initially studied the violin in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Music in London....
, and voices from the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a college or university school of music located in the South Kensington district of London, England, and historically one of the most influential music institutions in Europe....
. Initial reactions to the piece were mixed; Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer and was a teacher for nearly 20 years. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
, 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....'" In reality, the piece is unabashedly sensual and lushly orchestrated, which is quite appropriate considering its subject matter.

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