Songs of Travel
Encyclopedia
Songs of Travel is a song cycle
of nine songs originally written for baritone
voice composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams
, with poems selected from the Robert Louis Stevenson
collection of the same name
. A complete performance of the entire cycle lasts between 20 and 24 minutes.
They were originally written for voice and piano. Vaughan Williams orchestrated the first, third, and eighth songs while his assistant Roy Douglas
later orchestrated the remaining songs using the same instrumentation. The orchestral version has often been recorded, but not always with Douglas acknowledged as its orchestrator.
Notable performers of this cycle include Bryn Terfel
, Sir Thomas Allen, John Tomlinson and John Shirley-Quirk
.
All of the songs in the cycle exist in at least two keys, as all of the songs were transposed upwards to create a version for tenor
voice.
's miller in Die schöne Müllerin
nor the destructive impulses of the heroes of Schubert's Winterreise
and Mahler
's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
.
Eight of the songs were first performed in London in 1904. Although they were performed as a complete cycle, the publishers refused to accept the songs as a whole group. The songs were published in two books separated by two years. Neither volume included "Whither Must I Wander". The 9th song, "I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope", was published after Vaughan Williams's death, when his wife found it among his papers. The cycle is criticised for its simple accompaniments and rhythms but praised for its melodic content.
"The Vagabond" introduces the traveller, with heavy "marching" chords in the piano that depict a rough journey through the English countryside. The vocal line in "Let Beauty Awake" unfolds over long arabesques in the piano, lending a Gallic flavour to the song, though Vaughan Williams would not study in France until 1908. Kaleidoscopic shifts in mood are presented in "The Roadside Fire", with a lively accompaniment in the piano that lends a playful atmosphere to the first part of the song. The latter half of the song turns more serious as the traveller envisions private moments with his love, until the sunny music of the opening returns.
"Youth and Love" depicts the determined youth leaving his beloved behind as he ventures into the world; particularly notable is the exotic accompaniment of the second stanza, calling to mind birdsong, waterfalls, and trumpet fanfares. The fifth song, "In Dreams", is very much the dark centre of the cycle. The anguish in the vocal line, defined by its chromaticism and its awkward modulations, is doubled in the piano and reinforced by the tolling of low bells throughout. However, the mood subtly changes in the succeeding song, "The Infinite Shining Heavens", which offers another view of the immutability of nature.
"Whither Must I Wander" offers the first of Vaughan Williams's many "big tunes;" the essentially strophic song recalls happy days of the past and reminds us that while the world is renewed each spring, our traveller cannot bring back his past. However, the composer offers the listener some consolation in "Bright is the ring of words": The listener is reminded that while all wanderers (and artists) must eventually die, the beauty of their work shall remain as a testament of their lives. The final song, "I have trod the upward and the downward slope", was added to the cycle only in 1960 after its posthumous publication. This song recapitulates the whole cycle in just four phrases that form a miniature scena of recitative
and arioso
, quoting four of the previous songs in the cycle, before ending with the opening chords, suggesting that the traveller's journey continues forever, even in death.
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
of nine songs originally written for baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
voice composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, with poems selected from the Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
collection of the same name
Songs of Travel and Other Verses
This work by Robert Louis Stevenson explores the author's perennial themes of travel and adventure. The work gained a new public and popularity when it was set to music in Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan Williams....
. A complete performance of the entire cycle lasts between 20 and 24 minutes.
They were originally written for voice and piano. Vaughan Williams orchestrated the first, third, and eighth songs while his assistant Roy Douglas
Roy Douglas
Roy Douglas is a British composer and arranger. He worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Addinsell.-Works as composer:*Oboe quartet [1932]...
later orchestrated the remaining songs using the same instrumentation. The orchestral version has often been recorded, but not always with Douglas acknowledged as its orchestrator.
Notable performers of this cycle include Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
, Sir Thomas Allen, John Tomlinson and John Shirley-Quirk
John Shirley-Quirk
John Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie...
.
Song listing
- The Vagabond
- Let Beauty Awake
- The Roadside Fire
- Youth and Love
- In Dreams
- The Infinite Shining Heavens
- Whither Must I WanderWhither Must I Wander"Whither Must I Wander" is a song composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams whose lyrics consist of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Stevenson poem, entitled Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?, forms part of the collection of poems and songs called Songs of Travel and Other Verses...
- Bright is the Ring of Words
- I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope (only to be performed in public after the eight other songs)
All of the songs in the cycle exist in at least two keys, as all of the songs were transposed upwards to create a version for tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
voice.
About the songs
Written between 1901 and 1904, the Songs of Travel represent Vaughan Williams's first major foray into song-writing. Drawn from a volume of Robert Louis Stevenson poems of the same name, the cycle offers a quintessentially British take on the "wayfarer cycle". A world-weary yet resolute individual--Stevenson's and Vaughan Williams's traveller--shows neither the naivety of SchubertFranz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's miller in Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin
Die schöne Müllerin , is a song cycle by Franz Schubert on poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the earliest extended song cycle to be widely performed. The work is considered one of Schubert's most important, and it is widely performed and recorded....
nor the destructive impulses of the heroes of Schubert's Winterreise
Winterreise
Winterreise is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert , a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller. It is the second of Schubert's two great song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being Die schöne Müllerin...
and Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen is Gustav Mahler's first song cycle. While he had previously written other lieder, they were grouped by source of text or time of composition as opposed to common theme...
.
Eight of the songs were first performed in London in 1904. Although they were performed as a complete cycle, the publishers refused to accept the songs as a whole group. The songs were published in two books separated by two years. Neither volume included "Whither Must I Wander". The 9th song, "I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope", was published after Vaughan Williams's death, when his wife found it among his papers. The cycle is criticised for its simple accompaniments and rhythms but praised for its melodic content.
"The Vagabond" introduces the traveller, with heavy "marching" chords in the piano that depict a rough journey through the English countryside. The vocal line in "Let Beauty Awake" unfolds over long arabesques in the piano, lending a Gallic flavour to the song, though Vaughan Williams would not study in France until 1908. Kaleidoscopic shifts in mood are presented in "The Roadside Fire", with a lively accompaniment in the piano that lends a playful atmosphere to the first part of the song. The latter half of the song turns more serious as the traveller envisions private moments with his love, until the sunny music of the opening returns.
"Youth and Love" depicts the determined youth leaving his beloved behind as he ventures into the world; particularly notable is the exotic accompaniment of the second stanza, calling to mind birdsong, waterfalls, and trumpet fanfares. The fifth song, "In Dreams", is very much the dark centre of the cycle. The anguish in the vocal line, defined by its chromaticism and its awkward modulations, is doubled in the piano and reinforced by the tolling of low bells throughout. However, the mood subtly changes in the succeeding song, "The Infinite Shining Heavens", which offers another view of the immutability of nature.
"Whither Must I Wander" offers the first of Vaughan Williams's many "big tunes;" the essentially strophic song recalls happy days of the past and reminds us that while the world is renewed each spring, our traveller cannot bring back his past. However, the composer offers the listener some consolation in "Bright is the ring of words": The listener is reminded that while all wanderers (and artists) must eventually die, the beauty of their work shall remain as a testament of their lives. The final song, "I have trod the upward and the downward slope", was added to the cycle only in 1960 after its posthumous publication. This song recapitulates the whole cycle in just four phrases that form a miniature scena of recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
and arioso
Arioso
In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato....
, quoting four of the previous songs in the cycle, before ending with the opening chords, suggesting that the traveller's journey continues forever, even in death.
External links
- Performance of selections from Songs of Travel by Anton Belov (baritone) and Lydia Brown (piano) from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format