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Five Mystical Songs
Cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams
The composer, 1913
Text
George Herbert: The Temple: Sacred Poems
Language
English
Published
1911 (1911)
Scoring
soloist
choir
orchestra
The Five Mystical Songs are a musical composition by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), written between 1906 and 1911.[1] The work sets four poems ("Easter" divided into two parts) by seventeenth-century Welsh poet and Anglican priest George Herbert (1593–1633), from his 1633 collection The Temple: Sacred Poems. While Herbert was a priest, Vaughan Williams himself was an atheist at the time (he later settled into a "cheerful agnosticism"), though this did not prevent his setting of verse of an overtly religious inspiration. The work received its first performance on 14 September 1911, at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester, with Vaughan Williams conducting.[2]
The work is written for a baritone soloist, with several choices for accompaniment:
Piano only.
Piano and string quintet.
Wind Ensemble.
Orchestra with optional SATB chorus. This was the choice used at the premiere.
Like Herbert's simple verse, the songs are fairly direct, but have the same intrinsic spirituality as the original text. They were supposed to be performed together, as a single work, but the styles of each vary quite significantly. The first four songs are quiet personal meditations in which the soloist takes a key role, particularly in the third – Love Bade Me Welcome, where the chorus has a wholly supporting role (quietly and wordlessly singing the plainsong melody O Sacrum Convivium), and the fourth, The Call, in which the chorus does not feature at all. The final "Antiphon" is probably the most different of all: a triumphant hymn of praise sung either by the chorus alone or by the soloist alone; unlike the previous songs, a separate version is provided for a solo baritone. It is also sometimes performed on its own, as a church anthem for choir and organ: "Let all the world in every corner sing".
^Ottaway, Hugh; Vaughan Williams, Ralph; Shirley-Quirk; Choir, King's College; Eco; Willcocks (September 1969). "Record Reviews: Mass in G Minor; Five Mystical Songs; O Clap Your Hands". The Musical Times. 110 (1519). The Musical Times, Vol. 110, No. 1519: 949–950. doi:10.2307/953024. JSTOR 953024.
^"Worcester Musical Festival". The Musical Times. 52 (824). The Musical Times, Vol. 52, No. 824: 665–667. 1 October 1911. doi:10.2307/906540. JSTOR 906540.
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