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A Joyous Synchrony: Ralph VaughanWilliams's Settings of George Herbert'sPoetry in Five Mystical SongsJessica Victoria Horton

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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

A JOYOUS SYNCHRONY:

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS�S SETTINGS

OF GEORGE HERBERT�S POETRY IN

FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS

By

JESSICA VICTORIA HORTON

A Treatise submitted to the

College of Music

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Music

Degree Awarded:

Fall Semester, 2006

ii

The members of the Committee approve the Treatise of Jessica Horton defended

on October 27, 2006.

______________________

Carolyn Bridger

Professor Directing Treatise

______________________

James Mathes

Outside Committee Member

______________________

Timothy Hoekman

Committee Member

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named

committee members.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to acknowledge all those who have guided and encouraged

me throughout these past years of study. The completion of this treatise and

degree is a direct result of the many people who have invested their lives in my

personal and musical development. I am especially indebted to Anne Morton, my

first piano teacher, who created a spark of interest in me as a six-year-old, and

continued to nurture my love for music through her weekly instruction for the

following fifteen years. My most sincere appreciation is due to Carolyn Bridger,

who, through her tireless dedication to her students has exemplified all that a

mentor should be. I am indebted to Timothy Hoekman for teaching me the art of

vocal accompanying and for serving on both my graduate committees the past

four years. I would also like to express my appreciation to James Mathes, who

generously agreed to sit on this committee. A special debt is owed my father,

whose literary insight has contributed greatly to this treatise, and whose daily

advice and encouragement have motivated me to forge ahead to the finish line.

Finally, I thank God for guiding my steps throughout these both difficult and

rewarding years of study.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Musical Examples ..........................................��.... v

Abstract ��.vii

INTRODUCTION ��. 1

PART I � POET AND COMPOSER

1. GEORGE HERBERT .....................................................................................................4

2. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS ...............................................................................13

PART II � THE SONGS

3. EASTER .......................................................................................................................19

4. I GOT ME FLOWERS .................................................................................................28

5. LOVE BADE ME WELCOME ....................................................................................32

6. THE CALL ...................................................................................................................39

7. ANTIPHON ..................................................................................................................43

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................48

APPENDIX: SCANSIONS OF POETRY ........................................................................53

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................55

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................57

v

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES*

Example 1. Easter, mm. 2-3... ��.��.��21

Example 2. Easter, mm. 59-60.................��.��22

Example 3. Easter, m. 49��...22

Example 4. Easter, m. 68 ...��...23

Example 5. Easter, mm. 71-72 .��23

Example 6. Easter, mm. 7-10.......��.24

Example 7. Easter, m. 50 ...��.��. 24

Example 8. Easter, mm. 54-55 ..��.. 25

Example 9. Easter, mm. 73-74a ..��. 25

Example 10. Easter, mm. 14a ...��... 26

Example 11. Easter, mm. 83-87 .......�.......�� 26

Example 12. I Got Me Flowers, mm. 3-4 ...��..29

Example 13. I Got Me Flowers, mm. 22-25 .��... 30

Example 14. I Got Me Flowers, mm. 27-28a ...��..��. 30

Example 15. Love Bade Me Welcome, mm. 15-16 ��.. 34


Example 17. Love Bade Me Welcome, mm. 26-28a ��.��... 35

Example 18. Love Bade Me Welcome, mm. 30-31.��.. 36


vi


Example 21. Love Bade Me Welcome, mm. 64-68a ��.��... 37


Example 23. The Call, mm. 2-5a ��.��.��... 40

Example 24. The Call, mm. 10-11 ��.��.. 41

Example 25. The Call, mm. 28-29 ��41

Example 26. Antiphon, mm. 15-19 ��...��... 44

Example 27. Antiphon, mm. 17, 54 ��..��.. 44


Example 29. Antiphon, mm. 38-39 ...��... 45


Example 31. Antiphon, mm. 93-94 ��.. 46

Example 32. Antiphon, mm. 132-38 ��...��. 47

*All Examples are taken from Stainer & Bell Edition.

vii

ABSTRACT

The responsibility of every vocal coach is to supply the singer with an accurate

and sensible interpretation of poetic text. Such textual interpretation and understanding

are fundamental to successful musical performance. Naturally following an

understanding of the poetry is an understanding of the composer�s setting of poetic

elements. In Ralph Vaughan Williams�s Five Mystical Songs, clear consistencies can be

observed between music and poetry. In each song, the poetry of George Herbert is

complemented by the composer�s choice of musical settings. This treatise examines

elements of Herbert�s poetry in the context of Vaughan Williams�s settings. Elements

such as rhythm, pattern, variation, and poetic meaning are discussed in regards to each

poem and song. Furthermore, this treatise will explore what may have caused Vaughan

Williams�s attraction to Herbert�s poetry.

1

INTRODUCTION

Essential for every successful vocal coach is an acute understanding of poetry and

text. Accordingly, this treatise will give close attention to the elements of poetry that

affect musical setting as well as to an understanding of the particular poems themselves.

A singer as well as a vocal coach must be completely aware of the technical and dramatic

elements of the poetry. Convincing presentation of a poem in song demands a definite

understanding of each line�s meter and thought, and of overall development and

patterning. Especially significant are variations from rhythmical patterns. Such

knowledge of text is the starting point of song study and must not be neglected.

One of the foremost English song composers of the twentieth century, Ralph

Vaughan Williams came to define the genre of English song. Vaughan Williams�s Five

Mystical Songs, composed when he was thirty-eight, are his first substantial settings of

religious poetry of any sort. These songs sparked the composer�s lasting interest in

religious poetry and biblical texts, a fact of note, considering Vaughan Williams�s

agnostic persuasions. This treatise will investigate the composer�s affinity for George

Herbert�s poetry and consider his settings of the selected poems.

Part I of the paper will discuss the biographical details of Herbert and Vaughan

Williams, respectively, and will connect the two. The paradoxical attraction of the pious

George Herbert for the agnostic Vaughan Williams will be examined in detail within

these first two chapters. The first chapter will briefly address Herbert�s life, before

turning to his poetry. Herbert was a gifted musician in his own right, and his poems

abound with musical allusions and metaphors. His poetry contains elements that make it

particularly attractive for musical setting. It is introspective and thoughtful, written with

an evenness of meter, and laced with dramatic elements. In the second chapter Vaughan

Williams�s affinity for Herbert�s poetry will be explored in reference to the composer�s

childhood and later influences.

Whereas Part I will attempt to answer why Herbert�s poetry was attractive to

Vaughan Williams, Part II will address how the composer set the poems. These five

chapters of the treatise will constitute the core of the paper, analyzing the songs with

2

regard to the marriage of the poetry and the music. Vaughan Williams�s musical stressing

of words in response to poetic meter and meaning will be addressed in great detail. The

poetry�s schematic form, rhyme, meter, and thought line all will be examined in relation

to the musical setting.

The musical analyses will go beyond a mechanical treatment of meter and

scansion and will explore poetic elements such as regularity, variation, and dramatic

meaning, and a complete scansion of each poem will be provided. Metrical matters will

be addressed as relevant to the particular features of the music under discussion. The

resulting analyses will not be exhaustive but selective, featuring particulars of the poetic

setting that determine Vaughan Williams�s success in pairing music with text. The

composer�s success will be determined by his sensitivity to syllable stress, poetic

phrasing, and mood. Vaughan Williams occasionally varies Herbert�s meter musically.

Complete congruency is not, of course, to be expected or even desired. The question is

whether Vaughan Williams is understanding of and sensitive to what is going on in the

poetry.

Though the attention to the pattern and development of the poems� thoughts may

at times seem over-elaborate, it is precisely such knowledge that is often most needed and

most lacking in the preparation of performers and that coaches must be ready to provide.

A governing assumption throughout will be the necessity, for performance, of a thorough

understanding of the underlying sense of the text as well as technical knowledge of its

setting.

Although the original arrangement of the songs is for baritone, choir, and

orchestra, musical examples included in the body of the paper will, for ease of reference,

be extracted from Vaughan Williams�s voice and piano arrangement. The vocal line will

be the primary focus of analysis.

3

PART I

POET AND COMPOSER

4

CHAPTER 1

GEORGE HERBERT

Few poets can be described as masters of their art. Of those who are thus gifted,

many pursue public recognition and self-promotion. The English poet George Herbert,

although blessed with many social connections and advantages, abandoned high political

prospects and remained faithful to his sense of personal calling, content to minister to the

congregation of a small village parish. This seventeenth-century poet is rightly

considered one of the very finest English lyricists. Herbert�s carefully crafted poems

offer insight into the deeply spiritual mind of this man. But his activities were not

confined to the pulpit, pen, and paper. They were, in fact, quite varied, stemming from

his many interests, developed and encouraged in childhood. Prominent and passionate

among those interests was his love of music.

Born in 1593, George Herbert spent his childhood years enjoying the privileges of

an aristocratic upbringing. His mother, Magdalene, provided Herbert, the fifth of ten

children, with an excellent education, while encouraging religious fervor in the home.

She also insisted on incorporating music into everyday life. The family would frequently

host prominent composers and performers for meals. The Kitchen Booke, a journal kept

by the family steward, records occasions of John Bull�s and William Byrd�s dining with

the Herberts. This same journal documents fees paid to musicians for professional

performances in the home. Herbert was proficient on the lute and viol, and the family

frequently sang along with his accompaniment. The great John Donne, a close family

friend, recounted at Magdalene�s funeral service that the Herberts ended each Sunday

with �a generall, with a cheerfull singing of Psalmes.�1

Herbert entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609, accompanied by his mother,

who had settled in Cambridge to supervise his education. It was at the university that

young Herbert began to write verse. His poetry was mostly religious in nature, and

1Nick Page, George Herbert: A Portrait (Tunbridge Wells, U.K.: Monarch Publications, 1993),

39.

5

would remain such throughout his life. In his spare time the poet enjoyed and practiced

music. In his Life of Herbert, Izaak Walton states, �all, or the greatest diversion from his

Study, was the practice of Musick, in which he would say, �That it did relieve his

drooping spirits, compose his distracted thoughts, and raised his weary soul so far above

Earth, that it gave him an earnest of the joys of Heaven, before he possest them.��2

During his time at Cambridge, Herbert�s superiors were taking note of his

remarkable intellect and talent. His reputation gained momentum, and honors increased.

In 1619, four years after obtaining his M.A. from Cambridge, the poet received the

prestigious appointment of Public Orator of Cambridge University. This position

required Herbert to act as the university spokesman during official ceremonies,

particularly those involving royalty. His work included the composing and delivering of

Latin verse and orations and the writing of all official university letters.3

Herbert�s aspirations in the political realm seemed abruptly to end in 1625 with

the death of his patron. With the death of King James and the accession of Charles I in

1625, the orator lost favor in royal circles. This setback may have influenced his

resignation from the position of Public Orator in 1626. Subsequently, he entered the

ministry and was ordained as rector of Bemerton, a small country parish near Salisbury,

in 1630.

There is much debate concerning the poet�s motivation for leaving political life.

Whether he was discouraged about his secular prospects or whether he had always

intended to enter the ministry is unclear, but his choice of parish seems to favor the latter.

Such a shift from the material prosperity of public promotion to the modest life of a

country parson implies the hierarchy of Herbert�s desires.

During these years at Bemerton, Herbert exercised his interest in music. Walton

writes,

His chieftest recreation was Musick, in which heavenly Art he was a most

excellent Master, and did himself compose many divine Hymns and Anthems,

which he set and sung to his Lute or Viol; and, though he was a lover of

retiredness, yet his love to Musick was such, that he went usually twice every

2Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George Herbert, in George Herbert: The Complete English Poems,

ed. John Tobin (London: Penguin, 1991), 276. 3Joseph H. Summers, George Herbert: His Religion & Art (Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval

and Early Renaissance Studies, 1981), 32.

6

week on certain appointed days, to the Cathedral Church in Salisbury; and at his

return would say, That his time spent in Prayer, and Cathedral Musick, elevated

his Soul, and was his Heaven upon Earth . . . he would often say, Religion does

not banish mirth, but only moderates and sets rules to it.4

Although no manuscripts survive, it is certain that Herbert composed hymn tunes to

accompany his verse.5

While at Bemerton, the poet compiled a volume of his religious verse that he

entitled The Temple. Composed of 169 poems, The Temple�s contents were arranged so

as to suggest the �progression of the Christian experience to perfect communion with

God in the Holy of Holies.�6 These poems explore the divine, and Herbert incorporated

familiar everyday experiences and objects to express it. The most frequent vehicle for

Herbert�s purpose was the theme of music. Joseph Summers states that a fourth of the

poems in The Temple refer to music in a direct manner.7 In fact, many of the poems were

written as songs to be sung. The second part of �Easter,� to be discussed in Chapter 3 is,

in effect, a song.

For full comprehension of George Herbert�s poetry, one must examine the

features indicative of the poet�s interest in music and its effect on his poetry. It is evident

that such a love for music shaped and molded Herbert�s poetry. Elements in Herbert�s

poetry that especially suit it for musical setting must be examined.

The musical metaphor abounds in Herbert�s poetry. In �Ephesians 4:30. Grieve

not the Holy Spirit, &c.,� the poet writes:

Oh take thy lute, and tune it to a strain,

Which may with thee

All day complain.

There can no discord but in ceasing be.8

Here, Herbert uses �discord� as a musical metaphor for dissonance. The poem�s message

is that of praise in music, with �strain� possibly punning on the following meanings: �a

4Walton, 302. 5Summers, 160. 6Ronald A. Horton, British Literature for Christian Schools: The Early Tradition: 700-1688

(Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1980), 328. 7Summers, 157. 8C.A. Patrides, ed., The English Poems of George Herbert (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd,

1974), 146. All citations to the poems will refer to this edition.

7

passage of musical expression,�9 a stretching of a string of an instrument, and mental or

emotional stress. To �complain� is, in an earlier meaning, to voice a lament as by a lover

in song.

The third stanza of �The Pearl� is bursting with musical allusions to seventeenth-

century music.

I know the wayes of Pleasure, the sweet strains,

The lullings and the relishes of it;

The propositions of hot bloud and brains;

What mirth and musick mean; what love and wit

Have done these twentie hundred yeares, and more:

I know the projects of unbridled store:

My stuffe is flesh, not brasse; my senses live,

And grumble oft, that they have more in me

Than he that curbs them, being but one to five:

Yet I love thee.10

Edward W. Naylor defined the following musical references in these lines: �strains�

refer to �eight bars of a Pavan;� �relish� was a term applied to a seventeenth-century

ornament used in the playing of the lute or viol; �propositions� is �a form of Proposta,

subject, Riposta, answer, of a fugue or movement of fugal character.�11

Such references

reveal the musical knowledge of the author and contradict the notion that Herbert�s

poetry is naïvely simple in nature. Instance after instance of similar musical references

and metaphors appear.

Certainly, Herbert�s musical interests had an important effect on his poetry, but

other such influences also left an imprint. Sacred English music of the day comprised a

variety of styles. Music for �private devotion�12

was becoming more and more popular.

This incorporation of devotional music in the home was naturally conducive to the

appearance of Herbert�s devotional style of poetry. Also influential on Herbert was

9The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition. (1982), s.v. �strain.� 10Patrides, 103. 11Edward W. Naylor, �Three Musical Parson-Poets of the xviith Century,� Proceedings of the

Musical Association (Leeds: 1928), 95-96, quoted in Summers, 159. 12Summers, 161.

8

secular music of the day and the rising popularity of the air��an accompanied song or

melody usually in strophic form.�13

The air remained the �secular form most relevant to

Herbert�s poems.�14

Composers such as John Dowland and Thomas Campion increased

the air�s popularity in English musical circles. The lyric poetry of the era was musical�

texts of lyrics were written to be sung.

The subject matter of Elizabethan lyrics was widely varied. Norman Ault writes

in the introduction to his definitive volume, Elizabethan Lyrics, of the diversity of the

Elizabethan lyric poem: �Love poetry predominates; but war, travel and exploration . . .

birds, beasts and flowers, court and cottage, work and play . . . combine their myriad

patterns and colours to form an ever-changing picture of English social life during the

reign of the great Queen.�15

Although the poems of George Herbert are primarily

devotional, he incorporated a variety of objects and daily happenings, such as those

described by Dr. Ault, to further his religious point.

Not only did the subject matter of English song influence Herbert, but also the

form and style of its lyrics played a role in his poetry. Summers writes, �From the time

of Sidney, with the efflorescence of trochaic rhythms, lines of seven and eleven syllables,

feminine endings, and stanzas of varying line lengths, English poetry and English music

moved together toward greater rhythmical complexity.�16

A second major influence on the poetry of Herbert comes from his greatest

poetical and spiritual influence, John Donne. Donne held close ties to the Herbert family

and remained a family friend. These two poets were branded �Metaphysical� for their

highly intellectualized use of realism, introspection, and irony.17

This brash older poet

led a revolt against the ornate, effusive style of Elizabethan poetry. Donne�s verse was

marked by wit, pun, and surprising metaphors using familiar objects and technical

concepts that would not be considered poetical in the traditional sense. Donne�s use of

common objects and subject matters and colloquial speech to render religious ideas stood

in opposition to the former florid style and was adopted by Herbert. Also characteristic

13Webster�s New Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., s.v. �air.� 14Summers, 161. 15Norman Ault, Elizabethan Lyrics from the Original Texts (New York: Capricorn Books, 1949),

x-xi. 16Summers, 163. 17Alex Preminger, ed., Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Princeton: Princeton University Press,

1965), 495.

9

of the Metaphysicals was the use of the conceit�an ingeniously crafted extended

metaphor combining dissimilar objects or ideas. However, there is little similarity in the

metrical style of each poet. Whereas Donne�s poetry is typically metrically disruptive,

Herbert�s typically flows evenly.

Recent scholarship has emphasized a third current of influence. Herbert scholar

Coburn Freer has argued that Herbert�s poetry is situated in the tradition of the metrical

psalms�Psalms written in meter and rhyme.18

Certainly Herbert�s upbringing in the

Anglican Church involved the regular singing of psalms. The reading or chanting of

psalms was an important aspect of the church liturgy. In fact, more editions of the

metrical psalms were printed in England between 1550 and 1650 than any other poetry.19

Not only were the psalms sung during the weekly church service, but they were

also a regular part of common devotional practice in the home. The Puritans were

especially known for their psalm singing, being often ridiculed for it. In fact, the

personal practice of psalm singing contributed to the puritanical stereotype. But not only

the Puritans were psalm singers. As stated previously, the Herbert family made it a

practice to sing these verses around the table. Walton tells of Herbert�s explaining the

importance of the use of psalms during church services: �And as to these psalms and

lauds, he proceeded to inform them why they were so often, and some of them daily, to

be repeated in our Church-service; namely the Psalms every month, because they be an

historical and thankful repetition of mercies past, and such a composition of prayers and

praises, as ought to be repeated often, and publicly; for which such sacrifice God is

18The main influence on Herbert from the metrical-psalm tradition in England was not that of the

unpoetical Whole Book of Psalms by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins (1560), which was added to the

Prayer Book in 1562 and became a staple of Anglican worship, its psalms sung between the parts of the

liturgy. Nor was it that of its Scottish counterpart, the Psalms of David in Meter (1594), �essentially an

alternate version with a shared history of composition until 1560 and 110 metrical psalms in common�

(Beth Quitsland, �Teaching Us How to Sing?: The Peculiarity of the Sidney Psalter,� Sidney Journal 23,

nos. 1-2 [2004]: 85). The metrical-psalm tradition affecting Herbert was that of the Sidney Psalter

produced by Mary, Countess of Pembroke, sister of Philip Sidney, who completed what was left undone by

her brother�s death. The metrical psalms in the Sidney Psalter were not evidently intended for singing, but

were proposed to demonstrate how David�s Psalms could be arranged in a worthier way than in the more

awkward popular tradition. The Sidney Psalter profoundly influenced seventeenth-century devotional

poetry. Mary�s sons, William and Philip, were patrons of Herbert as well as his fourth cousins. See Summers, p. 229, and Hannibal Hamlin, ��The highest matter in the noblest format�: The Influence of the

Sidney Psalter,� Sidney Journal 23, nos. 1-2 (2005): 134-35. This issue of the Sidney Journal is almost

entirely devoted to the literary tradition within the larger tradition of the metrical psalms. 19Coburn Freer, Music For A King: George Herbert�s Style and the Metrical Psalms (Baltimore:

The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), 2.

10

honoured and well-pleased.�20

The Scripture readings prescribed for morning and

evening worship in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer called for the completion of

the Psalms every month.

In Music for a King, Freer argues convincingly for the influence of the metrical

psalms on Herbert�s verse, both in their specific features and in the mindset of the poet

behind it. Perhaps the primary attraction of the metrical psalms can be seen in what

Herbert reveals of himself in his poetic persona��the simple, naïve, introspective soul

engaging with God in the range of attitudes and feelings familiar to readers of the

Psalms.�21

It is entirely plausible that the humble form of the metrical psalms was

inherently appealing to the man Herbert and lay behind what appears as the simplicity of

Herbert�s poetic manner.

This �simplicity� is deceptive, however, for the poet drew upon his huge technical

resources. Perhaps �unpretentiousness� would be a more accurate word than �simplicity�

in describing Herbert�s style. The incorporation of familiar objects and plain language

offered the reader the poem�s message in the most concise and yet elegant way.

Summers relates Herbert�s style to his pastoral purpose: �He intended, I believe, that a

literate reader who knew the Bible and the ordinary worlds of nature and business and

communication should be able to understand and respond to his poems after careful

reading and meditation.�22

Certainly, Herbert achieved this goal�seen clearly by the

popularity of The Temple among the learned and unlearned for centuries to come. Indeed

a parallel in plainness of language can be made between the metrical psalms and

Herbert�s poetry.

A second parallel can be drawn in the differentiation of the Psalms written for

public worship from those for private devotion. This division appears in Herbert�s poems

and provides a useful paradigm for distinguishing them. Poems such as �Home� suggest

private meditation. Others such as �Antiphon (II)� suggest corporate worship. Indeed,

much of his verse begs to be sung and incorporated into public worship. In �Antiphon

(I),� to be discussed in Chapter 7, the refrain �Let all the world in ev�ry corner sing, My

God and King� is obviously meant to be sung publicly.

20Walton, 296. 21Ronald A. Horton, interview by author, Greenville, SC, 27 June 2006. 22Summers, 113.

11

It is not surprising that a poet so immersed in the Psalm tradition would write for

both the public and the private worshiper when the Psalms themselves divide in this way.

But also noted previously, sacred music for the home was increasing in popularity. The

formal music of the ceremonious service was being complemented by more accessible

hymn tunes for the home.

Not only do the parallels in the division of Herbert�s verse reflect those of the

Psalms themselves, but also their technical features are similar to those of the metrical

versions. The regularity of Herbert�s meter surely owes some debt to the metrical

psalms, whose evenness of movement and rhythm served the purposes of a musical

setting.

Herbert, like many brilliant composers, was an experimenter in forms. His poetry

includes an astounding variety of forms. Of the 169 poems in The Temple, there are 116

different stanza patterns represented.23

Summers goes into detail about this

experimentation. He sees �counterpoint� in Herbert�s construction of patterns of line

lengths independent of patterns of rhymes. The rhyming lines are not of equal length.24

Though such application of musical terminology may be questionable and cannot be

taken too far, it points to a feature that has musical affinity.

A convincing instance is noted by Margaret Bottrall in her study examining the

musical effects of Herbert�s poetry. In �Sinnes Round,� the final line of each stanza

repeats as the first line of the next stanza, and the last line of the poem is the same as the

first. This produces the effect of a musical round.25

Music evidently was never far from the daily activities of George Herbert.

Walton recounts Herbert�s last days:

The Sunday before his death, he rose suddenly from his Bed or Couch, call�d for

one of his Instruments, took it into hand, and said�

My God, My God�

My Musick shall find thee,

and every string

23Horton, 328. 24Summers, 147. 25Margaret Bottrall, �Herbert�s Craftsmanship,� in Seventeenth Century English Poetry, ed.

William R. Keast (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), 242.

12

Shall have his attribute to sing.

And having tun�d it, he play�d and sung:

The Sundays of Mans life,

Thredded together on times string,

Make Bracelets, to adorn the Wife

Of the eternal glorious King:

On Sundays, Heavens dore stands ope;

Blessings are plentiful and rife,

More plentiful than hope.26

It seems beyond question that Herbert�s close bond with music had a shaping

influence on his verse. It is not hard to see how a body of work such as Herbert�s could

interest a composer like Vaughan Williams. The form, meter, and musical references of

Herbert�s poetry create an environment well suited to musical setting.

26Walton, 312-13.

13

CHAPTER 2

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

In 1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams was born into an England torn by religious

controversy. With the 1859 publication of Darwin�s The Origin of the Species came a

disruption of accepted religious belief. What was not directly stated in this book�man�s

common descent with the primates�was put forth explicitly by Darwin in The Descent

of Man, published in 1871. Another such groundbreaking publication had appeared in

1860. Essays and Reviews was a collection of writings by Broad-Church clergymen,

which questioned the supernatural nature and claims of Scripture. Cambridge University,

which in George Herbert�s time was still a bastion of Anglican orthodoxy, had become a

center of religious skepticism 250 years later.

Vaughan Williams himself possessed a mixed heritage of belief. His father,

Arthur, was an Anglican clergyman, whose first appointment was as deacon to the parish

at Bemerton. Two centuries earlier the small church at Bemerton had resounded with the

sermons of another pastor�George Herbert. Vaughan Williams�s mother, Margaret, was

a devout Christian with evangelical tendencies. Vaughan Williams�s father died when

Vaughan Williams was only two, necessitating the rearing of the children by Margaret�s

family. Pulling against this religious legacy was one quite significant influence from

�Great Uncle Charles.� Charles Darwin was the uncle of the composer�s mother. Ursula

Vaughan Williams recounts in the biography of her husband that at about age six or

seven Vaughan Williams questioned his mother about The Origin of the Species.

Margaret replied, �The Bible says that God made the world in six days, Great Uncle

Charles thinks it took longer: but we need not worry about it, for it is equally wonderful

either way.�27

Vaughan Williams, like Herbert, enjoyed the advantages of a privileged

childhood. The family encouraged him in his studies and in his music. In 1892, after two

27Ursula Vaughan Williams, R.V.W. (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 13.

14

years of study at the Royal College of Music, Vaughan Williams entered Trinity College,

Cambridge, at the age of twenty. There he studied history and music, while making a

number of friends and acquaintances. His cousin Randolph Wedgwood introduced him

to an intellectual society at Cambridge known as the Apostles. From this semi-secret

society came such major intellectual figures as the historian G.M. Trevelyan and

philosophers G.E. Moore and Bertrand Russell. Though Vaughan Williams never

officially became a member of the circle, his associations with the Apostles were close

enough to affect his thought.

The composer�s atheism dates from these years at Cambridge. Russell, who was

to become the most influential philosopher and most outspoken religious skeptic of his

day, vouched for the composer�s staunch atheism. Russell wrote in a letter to

musicologist Michael Kennedy that one evening while a student, Vaughan Williams

entered the Hall at Trinity College and cried out, �Who believes in God nowadays, I

should like to know?�28

While interpreted by Russell to indicate a grounded atheism,

such a statement might seem to others to represent an inner struggle and insecurity. It

was a familiar story of an intellectual coming from a religious background and losing his

faith at the British universities. Both Moore and Russell, like Vaughan Williams,

rejected evangelical influences from youth as students at Cambridge. Like Russell and

Moore, Vaughan Williams later changed from an atheist to an agnostic.

It is no surprise that in his younger years Vaughan Williams avoided setting

religious texts of any sort. He preferred the secular poetry of nonbelievers such as Dante

Gabriel Rossetti, Walt Whitman, and Robert Louis Stevenson.29

His love for Whitman

endured throughout his life and was manifested early on in two major works�Toward

the Unknown Region and A Sea Symphony. Byron Adams sees continuity, however, in

Vaughan Williams�s interest in Whitman and in his seeming opposite, Herbert:

�Whitman�s language echoes that of the psalms, employing long lines and parallelism to

evoke a sense of spiritual exaltation and express universal truths.�30

This �sense of

28Michael Kennedy, The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (London: Oxford University Press,

1964), 42. 29Byron Adams, �Scripture, Church, and Culture: Biblical Texts in the Works of Ralph Vaughan

Williams,� in Vaughan Williams Studies, ed. Alain Frogley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1996), 103. 30Adams, 104.

15

spiritual exaltation� seems to be something Vaughan Williams found in the poetry of

George Herbert. The composer�s first major work with Christian text was the Five

Mystical Songs, first performed in 1911. From this point forward, the composer was to

lean heavily on sacred and biblical poetry. Indeed, the constant thread that ran through

the composer�s compositional life was his use of religious texts.

However, considering Vaughan Williams�s agnosticism, his interest in these texts

is likely attributable less to its religious content than to his attraction to the culture and

traditions of his nation. The composer�s work was always influenced by his love of all

that was English. This national pride manifested itself in Vaughan Williams�s numerous

English folksong and hymn settings. He stated in a 1942 essay, �I believe that the love of

one�s country, one�s language, one�s customs, one�s religion, are essential to our spiritual

health.�31

Naturally, his upbringing in the Anglican Church, and the traditions and

ceremonies familiar from his childhood faith helped to determine Vaughan Williams�s

choices of text. His admiration for the King James Version of the Bible and its

contribution to the evolution of the language remained a strong influence as well.

The English hymn tradition, in particular, affected the composer�s tastes in

religious musical settings. In 1904 Vaughan Williams was commissioned to edit The

English Hymnal. Although it seems ironic for an agnostic to be asked to edit a hymnal,

few other composers of the day could have brought such expertise to the job. James Day

speculated as to the commissioning committee members� consideration of Vaughan

Williams: �They must also have known that in other respects he was very much in

sympathy with the kind of hymnbook the compilers had in mind, one that would restore

clarity of language and a simple, vigorous musical style cleansed of chromatic clichés

and would reflect the down-to-earth, socially-minded, humanistic High Church

Christianity of the compilers.�32

This was the composer�s chance to �improve musical

standards� using a vehicle that would engage all segments of English society.33

In fact,

Vaughan Williams even managed to include four tunes of his own, which he attributed to

an anonymous composer.

31Ralph Vaughan Williams, quoted in Adams, 105. 32James Day, Vaughan Williams (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 30. 33Day, 31.

16

Despite his agnosticism, Vaughan Williams �was able, all through his life, to set

to music words in the accepted terms of Christian revelation as if they meant to him what

they must have meant to George Herbert or to Bunyan.�34

It was this ability to separate

his work from his beliefs that makes the composer an enigma. How could he bring to life

divine words with no personal conviction of their meaning? James Day comments on a

statement by Vaughan Williams that �the object of art is to stretch out to the ultimate

realities through the medium of beauty.�35

The composer, says Day, �found some of the

most potent symbols for these ultimate realities . . . in the Bible and in writers like

Herbert and Bunyan.�36

Certainly, if a composer�s intention is to communicate to the

listener, he will incorporate those elements most familiar and relevant to his audience.

Biblical and religious symbolism was familiar to him, stemming from his childhood, and

brought with it a kind of nostalgia, which translated well to his music.

Vaughan Williams was, however, not above altering texts to suit him. The most

frequently cited example is drawn from The Pilgrim�s Progress, the composer�s full-

length opera. He tampered with John Bunyan�s text by renaming the character

�Christian� as �Pilgrim.� His response to the outcry of fellow-composer Rutland

Boughton is revealing: �I on purpose did not call the Pilgrim �Christian� because I want

the idea to be universal and apply to anybody who aims at the spiritual life whether he is

Xtian, Jew, Buddhist, Shintoist or 5th Day Adventist.�

37 Although Vaughan Williams

chose religious texts, he did not always intend for a traditional interpretation of them. In

many ways these texts were the ones most relevant to the audience of the day.

It was the poetry of the Anglican tradition that would furnish Vaughan Williams

with the texts he wanted for much of his sacred music. And not just any Anglican poetry

suited him. There is no mystery why the poems of George Herbert would have first

claim on his attention. In Herbert, Vaughan Williams found a master poet whose poetry

was simple yet profound, plain yet technically sophisticated, popular yet permeated with

the seriousness of English worship. Hubert Foss well observed, �His [Vaughan

Williams�s] mind moved less complacently, back to an earlier Church of England, to a

34U. Vaughan Williams, 138. 35Day, 103. 36Day, 103. 37R. Vaughan Williams, quoted in Adams, 99.

17

less glib means of expression, to a deeper thought and profounder art, a more native

method (albeit more shy) and a cleaner idiom of expression.�38

Although serious in

nature, Herbert�s poetry was removed from the conventions of high ceremony that were

to become prominent in the Anglican Church by Vaughan Williams�s time.

Herbert�s own musicianship and the musical themes of his poetry held an even

stronger attraction for Vaughan Williams. Some evidence of this appears in the

composer�s own thoughts on the poet:

It seems that music, not only in its vague aspects but in its very details, was an

essential part of the spiritual life of the sixteenth century. It was not for nothing

that both Shakespeare and Milton were skilled musicians, or that George Herbert

could write:

�Or since all music is but three parts vied

And multiplied;

O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part

And make up our defects with his sweet art,�

and make sure that he would be understood.39

Herbert and Vaughan Williams shared similar educational and religious

upbringings. Both were reared in the Anglican Church and were familiar with its psalm

tradition, and both were accomplished musicians. These similarities created a kinship

between poet and composer that was wonderfully productive. Although Herbert�s poetry

ran contrary to Vaughan Williams�s agnosticism, the composer was still able to recognize

and capitalize on the craft and value of the poet�s work.

38Hubert Foss, Ralph Vaughan Williams (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1950), 73. 39R. Vaughan Williams, quoted in O. Alan Weltzien, �Herbert�s Divine Music in Vaughan

Williams� Five Mystical Songs,� George Herbert Journal 15 (fall 1991): 6.

18

PART II

THE SONGS

19

CHAPTER 3

EASTER

The Five Mystical Songs were commissioned for the Worcester Festival of 1911.

These Herbert poems were originally set for baritone soloist, chorus, and orchestra.

Vaughan Williams conducted the premiere performance, for which Fritz Kreisler

managed to position himself in the back of the violin section, much to the composer�s

surprise. The poems that Vaughan Williams chose to set were taken from The Temple

and follow the Christian�s experience and relationship to God.

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise

Without delayes,

Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise

With him mayst rise:

That, as his death calcined thee to dust,

His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part

With all thy art.

The crosse taught all wood to resound his name,

Who bore the same.

His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key

Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song

Pleasant and long:

Or since all musick is but three parts vied

And multiplied;

O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,

And make up our defects with his sweet art.40

Vaughan Williams chose to divide Herbert�s poem �Easter� into two parts and set

them each as separate songs. The poem�s second half, in itself a distinct song, appears as

the second of the Five Mystical Songs. This was not an unwarranted decision by

40Patrides, 61-62.

20

Vaughan Williams, for Herbert himself separated Easter into two poems in the Williams

Manuscript, containing an earlier version of the poem.41

Herbert placed �Easter�

immediately after �Sepulchre� in The Temple, indicating his intention that the poems

show succession in thought.

The first three stanzas of �Easter� use musical metaphor and imagery to present

the doctrine of Christ�s resurrection. The message of the poem is essentially that music is

the most effective vehicle of praise. The imperatives that open each stanza��Rise

heart,� �Awake, my lute,� and �Consort both heart and lute��are in cumulative order.

These poetic apostrophes to heart, lute, then heart and lute, outline the progression of

praise. The first stanza describes the initial inward response that begins in the heart. The

second stanza expresses the outward manifestation that begins as a struggle. Finally, in

the third stanza all elements �consort� to produce the song that comprises the second part

of the poem. The last two lines of the third stanza are in essence a prayer.

Like other poems in The Temple, �Easter� shows a kinship with the Psalms. A

similar theme and imagery with a similar call appear, for example, in Psalm 57:7-9.

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Awake

up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise

thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.42

The first stanza�s last two lines, a heroic couplet, present an almost violent picture

of the soul�s justification. �Calcined� describes the alchemical process of purifying a

mineral through burning.43

The lute, Herbert�s own instrument, provides the musical

imagery and metaphor for the second stanza. The strings stretched on the frame of the

instrument figure Christ stretched on the cross. The �crosse� is a pun on the wooden

cross of the crucifixion and the wooden frame of the instrument. The �sinews� speak not

only of the stretched limbs of the crucified Christ but also of the gut strings of the lute

that must stretch to achieve the desired pitch and key. Perhaps, �taught� is a pun on

�taut,� speaking of the tightened strings. The �key� that is �best to celebrate� can be

41Robert Boenig, �Vaughan Williams and Herbert,� Studia Mystica 5, no. 4 (1982), 30. 42All Bible references are taken from the Authorized King James Version. 43Patrides, 61.

21

associated with the �doctrine of affections.�44

Church music of the day was higher in

pitch than secular vocal music.

The third stanza is a culmination of the previous two. The uniting of heart and

lute results in the �twist� of a song�generally thought to refer to the weaving of

polyphonic music.45

Different ideas exist concerning the meaning of �three parts vied,�

but the most probable explanation is that the three parts represent the three notes of the

triad�the chord being completed only with the addition of the Spirit.46

It communicates

an even stronger sense of the Trinitarian aspect of the poem. This first section of

�Easter� functions as an ideal example of Herbert�s personal musicianship spilling into

his poetry. The extent of Herbert�s musical knowledge would have been obvious to

Vaughan Williams.

Within the general meter of the poem�iambic pentameter�are variations for

which Vaughan Williams carefully provides. The first two words, �Rise heart� are two

equally stressed syllables, known in poetic terminology as a spondee. The composer

emphasizes this rising fourth by giving each syllable half-note value. (Ex. 1)

Example 1 (mm. 2-3)47

44Summers, 160. 45Patrides, 62. 46Summers, 160. 47All Examples are taken from Stainer & Bell, Ltd. Edition (London: Stainer & Bell Ltd., 1911).

22

In this way not only is the meaning of �rise� illustrated musically but also the intended

meter of the poetic foot is conveyed. We find examples of spondee at the end of each

stanza. With the accented syllable terminating the preceding iambic foot before the

spondee, there result three stressed syllables in a row. The strongest such example is

found at the end of verse two, at �most high day,� where the half notes again denote the

change in meter and equally emphasize each word. (Ex. 2)

Example 2 (mm. 59-60)

Also in the second stanza appears a less obvious example of spondee, which Vaughan

Williams perceptively acknowledges. The equal eighth notes of �taught all� indicate the

spondee to the listener. (Ex. 3)

Example 3 (m. 49)

23

Special attention should be paid to the word �key,� which should likely be

pronounced to rhyme with �day.� A clue can be taken from the archaic word �fey,�

which is still pronounced like �day.�48

It seems Herbert may have intended a true rhyme

between these lines, and the singer should decide which pronunciation, the truer original

or the more familiar, is more appropriate.

Vaughan Williams inserts one of several melismas in the first syllable of

�Pleasant,� which respects the poem�s variation of meter by emphasizing this first

syllable of a trochaic foot�an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable.

(Ex. 4)

Example 4 (m. 68)

The composer does diverge from Herbert�s meter in the last stanza by stressing �Or� and

�since� by placing them on beats two and three, and in a way, creating his own spondee.

(Ex. 5)


48The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition. (1982), s.v. �fey.�

24

Such a diversion from the meter actually serves the poem in highlighting the change in

thought line. Vaughan Williams clearly accentuates Herbert�s intended meter, while still

allowing for the natural flow of ordinary speech. Herbert himself would have recognized

that song is not meant to be strictly bound by poetic meter, though deviations can be

sensitive to meaning or quite otherwise.

Vaughan Williams not only respects the meter of the poem but also conveys the

poetic meaning of �Easter� in a dramatic and effective manner. Within �Easter,� the

poetic thought is occasionally continued from line to line. The composer takes care to

observe these thought units, as seen in Example 6.


Several instances of text painting appear in Easter. The first and most obvious

instance occurs at the outset of the song, with a rising fourth indicating the rising heart.

In the second stanza, the poetic meaning of �resound� comes to life with the resonating

melisma elongating the word. (Ex. 7)

Example 7 (m. 50)

25

The poem speaks of the �stretched sinews.� Metrically speaking, �stretched,� for Herbert

a two-syllable word, should not be weighted equally in both syllables; however, Vaughan

Williams gives each syllable equal length with equal eighth notes. (Ex. 8) This gives the

effect of stretching, reinforcing the importance of the word�s meaning.


At �three parts� Vaughan Williams creates a very literal extension of the words by

writing distinct triads in the accompaniment. (Ex. 9)

Example 9 (mm. 73-74a)

Certain changes of meter within the song signal the meaning of the text. The

change to 4/4 at �Who takes thee by the hand� gives this new thought the conversational

effect it requires. In contrast to the preceding line of the chorus, �Sing his praise without

delayes,� this more personally directed statement follows the natural patterns of speech

with its dotted eighth and sixteenth notes for �by the.� (Ex. 10)

26


In fact, throughout the song, Vaughan Williams elevates the lines more suited to

corporate expression, while creating a more intimate setting for those phrases that are

more personal and directed toward the individual. This elevation of text is expressed

dynamically and with added instrumentation and chorus.

The composer also chooses appropriate and poignant places for key shifts. In the

first stanza a change in mood occurs at the mention of Christ�s death. Not only does

Vaughan Williams briefly introduce G minor, but he also makes a change dynamically to

heighten the drama. At �gold,� a shimmering seventh chord hints of a Ravelian

influence. The orchestral interlude between the first and second stanzas prepares the

listener for the quiet beginning of the second stanza. The harp�s entrance signals the text

�Awake, my lute,� and imitates the instrument�s �struggle� to be heard. The intimate

setting of this second stanza blossoms into Herbert�s final imperative �Consort.� The

closing prayer of the poem receives a reverent touch, furnished with a largamente tempo

and accompanying chorus. The closing spondee �sweet art,� serves well to bring this

magnificent poem to an end, while the postlude quietly fades. (Ex. 11)


27

Vaughan Williams does take the liberty to repeat certain phrases of text, but

mainly as echoes by the chorus. Certainly, the composer well observes the many musical

allusions in the poem and is able to communicate the spirit of the poem successfully.

28

CHAPTER 4

I GOT ME FLOWERS

I got me flowers to straw thy way;

I got me boughs off many a tree:

But thou wast up by break of day,

And brought�st thy sweets along with thee.

The Sunne arising in the East,

Though he give light, & th� East perfume;

If they should offer to contest

With thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this,

Though many sunnes to shine endeavour?

We count three hundred, but we misse:

There is but one, and that one ever.49

This second half of the poem �Easter� stands in stark contrast to the first half.

These three stanzas are the resulting song that the speaker has promised to sing in the first

half of �Easter.� This song utilizes definite line lengths and a regularity far removed from

the frequent meter changes of the first half. This regularity of meter and form reflects

and represents the �part� that the Spirit �bears.� Because the Spirit has joined the poem�s

speaker, a song can now be composed and offered in worship.

�I Got Me Flowers� describes the activities of Palm Sunday. Matthew 21:8

speaks of the crowd�s preparing for Christ�s entrance into Jerusalem: �And a very great

multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and

strawed them in the way.� Herbert seems also to be alluding by contrast to the pagan

celebration of May Day. This primitive pagan festival sought to celebrate nature with the

coming of spring and new vegetation. With the accession of Charles I in 1625,

Archbishop Laud openly endorsed the holiday, most certainly as a reaction to the Puritan

objections to its pagan associations. Townspeople would scatter flowers in the streets

and perform their ritual dances around the maypole.

49Patrides, 62.

29

The first stanza of the song describes the speaker�s efforts in preparing for

Christ�s arrival. Of course, Christ arose early, bringing his �sweets�� metaphorically

the benefits of the resurrection�with Him. The second stanza introduces the poem�s

major metaphor, a conceit. The �Sunne,� a pun on �Son,� arose as well and brought light

and fragrance from blooming flowers. Such scents would be associated with the exotic

flowers of the Orient or �East.� Although the speaker and the sun are seen in their most

sincere efforts to beautify the day, such efforts pale in comparison to Christ�s work.

Nature cannot duplicate Christ�s resurrection. The poem recognizes the exploiting of

nature�s beauties as suited to Christ�s resurrection while insisting on how far those efforts

fall short. Although the style of these three stanzas is understated, the poem ends

dynamically in a firm, full-voiced declaration. This declaration signals the Trinitarian

implications of the poem. Both first and second halves comprise three stanzas. But as

the last line affirms, �There is but one.�

Within this very regular poem, we find the composer varying the musical meter

within phrases, yet maintaining an overall consistent pattern between verses. The

opening phrase echoes the planing of Debussy, with its modal harmonies reminding the

listener of the �East.� (Ex. 12)


Also to be noted, Vaughan Williams chooses to modernize �straw� to �strew.�

The frequent use of melisma breaks up the regularity of meter and form.

Vaughan Williams creates two parallel settings of the first and second stanzas while

injecting metrical variations. The meter of the first two verses is triple meter, which

30

provides a suitable lilt to the speaker�s song. In Easter we found the composer

consistently mirroring the poet�s syllabic stress. But it seems that the regularity of this

song demanded more musical effects and meter changes in order to enliven it. As before,

melismas fall on significant words, such as �East.� (Ex. 13)


The dramatic melisma at �contest� further emphasizes the importance of the

word. (Ex. 14)


Vaughan Williams sets this poem strophically. Whereas the first and second

stanzas run parallel in thought, the third presents the essence of the poem. The composer

recognizes this turning point in the poem�s thought, bringing in the humming chorus

while also changing the tempo to a more reverent poco più lento and changing keys from

E-flat minor to E major. The final line of the song erupts in a grand gesture in the key of

G-flat major. Chorus joins soloist, closing the song with two measures of unison singing.

31

The question which arises from Vaughan Williams�s setting of this poem, and

which will appear again in The Call, is whether the composer has exploited the poem in

an inappropriate way by introducing melismas and meter changes that blur the regularity

of the poem. The regularity of the poem is evident from the lines of equal length. All

lines except for two contain eight syllables. Again, there is no reason that music must

exactly follow the rhythms of poetry. By varying rhythmical pattern, Vaughan Williams

has made a simple poem musically interesting and actually highlighted the natural

speech-rhythms of an English speaker reciting the poem.

32

CHAPTER 5

LOVE BADE ME WELCOME

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,

Guiltie of dust and sinne.

But quick-ey�d Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lack�d any thing.

A guest, I answer�d, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkinde, ungratefull? Ah my deare,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes, but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marr�d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?

My deare, then I will serve.

You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:

So I did sit and eat.50

�Love (III),� as titled by Herbert, is considered one of the poet�s most moving and

poignant poems. The poem has also provided much cause for discussion. At first glance,

the poem may appear to refer to the Eucharist. However, some evidence speaks to the

contrary. Herbert�s own placement of the poem within The Temple suggests other

intentions. The poem follows the poems Dooms-day, Judgement, and Heaven, and closes

the section entitled �The Church.� Immediately following the poem, Herbert writes:

�FINIS. Glorie be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men.�51

As

noted previously, Herbert�s ordering of poems was careful and intentional. Such

placement of �Love (III)� could have likely been Herbert�s personal appeal to the reader.

50Patrides, 192. 51Patrides, 192.

33

The question is important. A sense of what the poem is representing can affect its

musical setting as well as its presentation in performance. Such placement may very well

speak of the soul�s conversion.

Conventional thought is that, at the least, Communion is the underlying metaphor

being used. To the contrary, the narrative builds on Jesus� parable of the wedding feast in

Matthew 22. The parable tells of a king who had prepared a wedding supper for his son.

The king sent his servants to �call them that were bidden to the wedding,� but the invited

guests would not come. Again the king sent out his servants to compel the guests,

saying, �The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.� The story

continues to describe the eventual arrival of guests, particularly one without a suitable

wedding garment, who was turned away. The wedding feast represents the kingdom of

heaven; and the invited guests, sinners who would or would not accept the invitation.

The poem is, essentially, a dialogue framed by described actions. The first stanza

describes the host, Love, inviting a guest to dinner. �Yet my soul drew back� suggests an

awkward and timid guest who recognizes his fallen nature. �Quick-ey�d Love� reminds

the reader of the perfect host who is acutely aware of a shy guest, and makes efforts to

integrate him into the group. The phrase �first entrance� suggests the idea of an initial

encounter resulting in conversion and entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

The dialogue begins in the second stanza with the guest�s response to Love, which

expresses his feelings of unworthiness and humiliation. Love reassures the sinner by

taking his hand and revealing himself as the Creator. Here we see a picture of a host

helping a shy and embarrassed guest to feel welcome. In the statement �Who made the

eyes but I?� Love�s identity becomes clear as Christ the Creator appears. The third

stanza continues the argument, with the guest�s eventual consent to stay but only as a

servant. The final yielding comes only after the guest agrees to sit and be served by

Love.

Although these details favor a conception of the poem as a conversion story�of

first entrance and ignorance of status�Vaughan Williams not unsurprisingly follows the

conventional thought concerning the poem�s meaning. His placement of the song in the

middle of the Five Mystical Songs is a rearrangement of Herbert�s intended order.

Weltzien comments on the significance of the rearrangement: �By placing it at his center,

34

the composer defines the promise of resurrection in the sacrament of communion.�52

Another telling evidence of Vaughan Williams�s interpretation is the inclusion of the

plainchant tune �O sacrum convivium� in the final section of the song. The text of the

chant translates as follows:

O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion

is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory

given to us.53

Vaughan Williams may, of course, simply have accepted without thought the usual sense

of the poem as expressive of Holy Communion and placed it accordingly at midpoint in

the cycle. Another possible reason could be purely musical: a desire to separate the more

regular poems �I Got Me Flowers� and �The Call� with a more varied poem, at least in

regards to form.

Vaughan Williams provides a seamless quality to this third song, with its almost

constant eighth notes and the legato effect of the strings. The hushed pianissimo of the

first verse suggests the timidity of the guest. The marking tempo rubato implies the

uncertainty and anxiety of the situation in the mind of the guest. The composer connects

poetic thoughts where needed, as seen in Example 15.


52Alan O. Weltzien, �Herbert�s Divine Music in Vaughan Williams� Five Mystical Songs,� George

Herbert Journal 15 (fall 1991): 11. 53�Sacrum Convivium.� http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Euch/SacrumConv.html

(August 7, 2006).

35

Vaughan Williams assigns a dotted quarter note to �dust,� emphasizing the guest�s

feeling of shame, yet another example of longer note values given to significant words.

(Ex. 16)


As Love approaches, the tempo slows to largamente. As Love asks whether the guest

�lack�d anything,� all instruments remain silent for the first and only time during the

song. Such silence supports the meaning of the words with an emptiness of sound.

The second verse begins in like manner to the first verse musically, but quickly

shifts tonally with the appearance of dialogue. Vaughan Williams again proves his

mastery of textual meaning, setting �I answer�d� in a less melodically consequential

manner and providing appropriate separation of narration and dialogue. (Ex. 17)


36

The brief key shift at �You shall be he� highlights the importance of Love�s

response. (Ex. 18) Tumult erupts at the guest�s reaction to Love and dissipates as the

guest expresses again his shame.


With Love�s action of taking the guest�s hand, Vaughan Williams creates a slower

rhythmical tempo with longer and more even note values in the melody. (Ex. 19) Such

regularity in the music conveys the sense of peace and tranquility provided by Love and

contrasts sharply with the guest�s preceding exclamation. This poem provides further

example of Herbert�s association of regularity in meter with the divine.


Vaughan Williams employs this method of rhythmical, as well as tonal, contrast

throughout the song, successfully contrasting the guest�s feeling of unrest with Love�s

sense of calm and assurance.

37

Metrically, �Love (III)� is written in iambic meter with frequent substitute feet at

the beginnings of lines. The third verse begins with a trochaic foot, which seems to be

interpreted by Vaughan Williams as a spondee. His separation of �Truth� and �Lord� by

a comma, which is not present in Herbert�s version, yields emphases on each word.

Again the guest�s emotions erupt in response to Love, with a tremolo accompaniment in

the strings. (Ex. 20)


The exclamations, �I the unkind, ungrateful� and �Truth Lord, but I have marr�d them�

quickly relax in tempo and become quieter dynamically, conveying a sense of despair.

The poem�s turning point occurs midway through this final stanza. Vaughan

Williams again marks a division of the dialogue with a tonal shift at �My deare.�

However, the guest�s response is not sufficient for Love. Introducing Love�s final

statement, the chorus enters and sings the tune from the plainchant �O sacrum

convivium,� the antiphon from the Vespers of Corpus Christi.54

(Ex. 21)


54Kennedy, 133.

38

Such an allusion to this communion chant reveals the composer�s interpretation of the

poem as referring to the Lord�s Supper. The final statement of Love is conveyed calmly

but directly, with equal pianissimo quarter notes, and is followed by the remainder of the

plainchant melody. (Ex. 22)


Finally, the guest surrenders to Love�s invitation to �sit and eat.� Vaughan

Williams sets this final line of text with quarter notes for �so I did.� These consecutive

quarter notes of this last line convey a more peaceful effect than the preceding

tumultuous settings of the guest�s responses. The postlude of the song returns the chant

tune in the chorus and ends quietly, suggesting peace.

Vaughan Williams chooses to ignore Herbert�s division of stanzas for verses two

and three. Musically, he connects the last line of verse two with the first line of verse

three at �Truth Lord.� Vaughan Williams�s most striking tools for text portrayal are his

use of tonal shifts and rhythmic variation to provide contrasts between persons in

dialogue. His attention to Herbert�s meter is evident, although less strictly applied and

more conversational in effect. Most effective is the use of varied rhythms. The use of

consecutive quarter notes in the last two lines of the song provide a stability that marks

the guest�s eventual feeling of acceptance and security. And although a variance from

Herbert�s meter, such equal emphasis of consecutive words conveys well the significance

of the text.

39

CHAPTER 6

THE CALL

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:

Such a Way, as gives us breath:

Such a Truth, as ends all strife:

And such a Life, as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:

Such a Light, as shows a feast:

Such a Feast, as mends in length:

Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:

Such a Joy, as none can move:

Such a Love, as none can part:

Such a Heart, as joyes in love.55

In �The Call,� Herbert lays out an artfully ordered prayer, inviting the Lord, in his

many aspects, to �come� and to be with him. �The Call� is severely schematic, both in

meter and thought units. The meter is trochaic, with an omitted unstressed syllable at the

end of each line, forming catalectic trochaic lines. The only divergence from this scheme

occurs in the final line of the first stanza, with the addition of �And.� Incidentally,

Vaughan Williams takes the liberty to remove �And� and follows the pattern of the

preceding two lines.

The Trinitarian elements of this poem are obvious, with three stanzas each

describing three qualities of Christ. The first stanza offers Christ�s own claims as �the

way, the truth, and the life,�56

providing a threefold description of regeneration. The

�Way� which gives �breath� clears a passageway for breathing. �Truth� ends the �strife�

of psychological warfare, settling doubts. �Life� defeats death.

Just as the first stanza presents the regenerating qualities of Christ, the second

verse describes his illuminating and sustaining powers. The metaphor is that of a feast.

55Patrides, 164. 56John 14:6

40

The �Light� reveals the feast to the guest. The �Feast,� which �mends,� or gets better

with time, provides strength. The �Strength� enables the speaker to be what he needs to

be, a guest, providing him with his required identity. The third stanza is the result of the

first and second, describing the effects of Christ�s work. The �Joy� described is

immovable, alluding to John 16:22: �and your joy no man taketh from you.� This joy is

not characterized by the ups and downs of an emotional state but is rather a constant

possession based in knowledge. The enduring nature of �Love� may be a reference to

Song of Solomon 8:7: �Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown

it.� Herbert masterfully closes the stanza by combining the first two elements in the

third: �Such a Heart, as joyes in love.�

In Vaughan Williams�s setting of �The Call� we find again the importance of the

melisma to add interest to the regularity of the poem�s meter. The first two verses are

virtually the same in the vocal line; however, the accompaniment differs harmonically in

the second verse. The song�s meter is triple throughout, supporting the lyricism of the

poem. Each significant final accented syllable of every line is placed on the first and

strongest beat of the measure. In this way, Vaughan Williams ensures that these

important nouns receive sufficient emphasis. The first such example is the placement of

�Life.� (Ex. 23)


41

Melismas occur in the final lines of each verse, always in conjunction with the

verbs. The striking melisma on �killeth� in the first stanza gives great importance to the

word and is echoed in the second verse on �makes.� (Ex. 24)


In both the first and the second verses, Vaughan Williams signals the end of the

stanza with a 9/4 bar to add finality. The third verse accelerates and strengthens to forte,

expressing an emotional response. Its first and second lines are musically sequential and

lead to a climactic melisma on �none.� Unlike the previous two stanzas, the third stanza

contains two melismas�the first as a climax, and the second as the resolution. The latter

melisma of the third stanza repeats exactly the melismas of the first and second verses,

with a return to the initial tempo and with a reverent tranquillo marking. A particularly

notable decision by Vaughan Williams is his setting of the penultimate line. The dotted

half note assigned to �as� contrasts with all other settings of the word, which are quarter

notes. (Ex. 25)


42

Such an extended note value underscores the gravity of the poetic line.

Vaughan Williams�s strophic setting of �The Call� is straightforward and

concise, paying tribute to Herbert�s style and form. But within such clarity of musical

setting, rhythmic nuances appear that add interest to a very regular poetic meter.

43

CHAPTER 7

ANTIPHON

Cho. Let all the world in ev�ry corner sing,

My God and King.

Vers. The heav�ns are not too high,

His praise may thither flie:

The earth is not too low,

His praises there may grow.


My God and King.

Vers. The church with psalms must shout,

No doore can keep them out:

But above all, the heart

Must bear the longest part.


My God and King.57

�Antiphon (I),� the first of two such named poems by Herbert, presents a prime

example of a Herbert poem intended for public worship. No doubt Herbert wrote the

poem as an anthem to be sung by a church congregation. The choir�s refrain occurs three

times, reflecting the Trinitarian theme that appears in the song cycle�s other poems. The

meter of the poem is predominately iambic, typical of lyric poetry. The thought line of

the poem is strictly ordered so that the scope of praise progresses from the natural to the

human. Stanza 1 tells of praise ascending to the heavens and then taking root on earth.

Stanza 2 presents the human sphere of praise, descending from the corporate to the

personal, from the congregation to the individual �heart.�

Framing the stanzas is a refrain that echoes the call to praise in many Psalms.

Psalm 66:4 speaks of the time when �all the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto

57Patrides, 72-73.

44

thee.� Psalm 89:11-12 reminds Israel that its God is not a local God. �The heavens are

thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded

them. The north and the south thou hast created them.� And Psalm 48:10 declared,

�According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth.� In fact,

�Antiphon (I)� is possibly one of Herbert�s most Psalm-like poems.

This fifth and final of the Five Mystical Songs provides the greatest contrast

musically to the other settings. Originally written for chorus without baritone soloist,

Antiphon is resolute and incessant in its rhythmic drive. In the introduction, the orchestra

part makes use of the hemiola, with its first appearance in measures two and three. This

rhythmic effect is yet another method used by the composer to create interest in this

strictly regular poem. Additionally, Vaughan Williams chooses to play with Herbert�s

strict iambic meter by stressing �Let� and placing it on the first beat of the measure in

triple meter. (Ex. 26)


By not setting �Let� on a pickup beat, Vaughan Williams achieves a risoluto effect in this

most important refrain.

A slight deviation from the meter is the change of Herbert�s �ev�ry� to �every, �

which allows for a more rhythmically interesting vocal line. The word�s rhythmic

articulation varies slightly in several instances. (Ex. 27)

Example 27 (mm. 17, 54)

45

Another example of altered meter is the first occurrence of �My God and King,�

in which the music expresses the full weight of its words with equal half notes and a

hemiola. (Ex. 28)


The refrain enclosing each verse occurs more than once, in part and in whole. As

with Easter, Vaughan Williams chooses to emphasize more elevated and lofty elements

of the text by repetition not present in the poems. The first verse of the song provides

contrast dynamically and with its legato marking, different from the more heavily

stressed rhythms of the refrain.

Melismas again appear in this final song of the cycle. (Ex. 29)


The music gives the effect of the praise taking flight and ascending to the heavens with

the melismatic gesture. Following the verse we have staggered entrances of the chorus

46

culminating in the restatement of the refrain. Throughout the song, keys are frequently

shifting and evolving, producing a swirling effect.

The second verse opens with the Church�s �shout,� literally portrayed by the

crescendo. (Ex. 30)


Vaughan Williams communicates with power the climactic appeal of the poem in

the final two lines of the second verse. The driving eighth notes relax with a change in

tempo, dynamic level, and mood. Vaughan Williams designates the markings Poco più

tranquillo and dolce to prepare for �But above all, the heart must bear the longest part.�

Certainly, an elongation of �longest,� by the accompanying melisma in the soprano line,

is appropriate to illustrate the meaning of the word. (Ex. 31)


47

In the final refrain of the song, the instruments drop out and the chorus resounds

in one last emphatic statement of the text. Vaughan Williams gives an especially

effective ending of half note chords in triple meter, a final hemiola. (Ex. 32)

Example 32 (mm. 132-38)

48

CONCLUSION

It is no surprise that Vaughan Williams chooses to frame his Five Mystical Songs

with �Easter� and �Antiphon (I).� Both poems express a corporate worship and are

served well by choral interpretation. It is quite clear that Vaughan Williams�s ordering of

the songs was purposeful. He does not follow the order of these poems within The

Temple, which is �Easter,� �Antiphon (I),� �The Call,� and �Love (III).� Robert Boenig

argues that the composer�s placement of Love Bade Me Welcome in the center of the

cycle suggests his interpretation of the song as a Communion song.

Herbert, of course, spreads these four poems throughout The Temple, but

we can still discern a progression in them: the Resurrection leads to praise

(�Antiphon (I)�: �Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and

King�), which leads to conversion (�The Call�: �Come my Way, my

Truth, my Life�), which brings the soul to the messianic banquet in

Heaven. Vaughan Williams. . . emphasized the eucharistic imagery in

�Love (III),� so that in Five Mystical Songs, his progression runs thus: the

Resurrection leads to the Eucharist, which leads to conversion and

praise.58

While it does seem probable that Vaughan Williams interpreted �Love (III)� as a

Communion poem�especially considering the inclusion of �O sacrum convivium��the

placement of the song may be related to regularity of its surrounding poems. Both �I Got

Me Flowers� and �The Call� are severely regular in meter and have consistent line

lengths. Perhaps Vaughan Williams gave first consideration to contrast in poetic form

and meter when deciding on the placement of these songs. In fact, the order of the entire

five may not result so much from the composer�s interpretation of the meaning of the

poems as it does from his desire for variation within the song cycle. I Got Me Flowers,

Love Bade Me Welcome, and The Call are very much inward and personal songs which

mirror the reflective nature of their respective poems. It was likely more attractive to

Vaughan Williams to begin and end the cycle with dramatic songs.

58Boenig, 30.

49

This is not to say that the religious seriousness of the poems was at all lost on

Vaughan Williams. A particularly noticeable feature of the Five Mystical Songs is the

Trinitarian characteristic present in each one. Vaughan Williams chose Herbert poems

that each of which has three divisions. Each of the first four songs is comprised of three

stanzas. The fifth, �Antiphon (I),� has three appearances of the choral refrain. Vaughan

Williams most likely recognized Herbert�s tribute to the Trinity, and this feature may or

may not have been a consideration in his choices.

What we can be sure of is that although the Five Mystical Songs are a product of

Vaughan Williams�s early years, they show a maturity of poetic setting. Although the

songs may at first glance appear simple and obvious in their effects, they communicate

with force and subtlety the intentions and style of the poet. Herbert�s poetry is by nature

an example of concealed art�deceptively simple on the surface, yet essentially

sophisticated. The composer found the means to highlight the poetic rhythm, both by

adherence to and variation in meter. Vaughan Williams�s understanding of the text is

evident in shifts in mood and color.

In the Five Mystical Songs we find a happy marriage of composer and poet.

Although separated by several centuries and opposing religious views, Vaughan Williams

responded to Herbert and his poetry with perception and skill. This attraction of younger

composer to elder poet, and its result, is artistically natural and strong.

50

APPENDIX: SCANSIONS OF POETRY

In the Herbert poems set to music in Vaughan Williams�s Five Mystical Songs,

the accent occurs for the most part at equal intervals. �The Call� in trochaic catalectic

meter is perfectly regular throughout. The other poems are in regular iambic meter with

occasional substitute trochaic and spondaic feet interjected mostly at the beginnings and

ends of lines. Since Herbert�s poems were not intended for common congregational

singing and exhibit an amazing variety of verse forms, it is not to be expected that they

would classify according to standard hymn forms. Nevertheless, indication of line

lengths by syllables is provided below according to standard notation. �The Call�

conforms most closely in its stanzas to a standard hymn form, one syllable shy of long

meter (8,8,8,8) because of the elided first syllable (7,7,7,7).

Easter (10,4,10,4,10,10/10,4,10,4,10,10/10,4,10,4,10,10)

/ / υ / υ / υ / υ /

Rise heart;| thy Lord | is ris|en. Sing|his praise

υ / υ /

Without | delayes,

υ / υ / υ / υ / υ /

Who takes | thee by | the hand, | that thou| likewise

υ / υ /

With him | mayst rise:

υ / υ / υ / υ / υ /

That, as | his death | calcin|ed thee| to dust,

υ / υ / υ / υ / / /

His life| may make | thee gold, | and much | more just.

υ / υ / υ / υ / υ /

Awake, | my lute, | and strug|gle for | thy part

υ / υ /

With all | thy art.

υ / / / / υ υ / υ /

The crosse | taught all | wood to| resound| his name,

υ / υ /

Who bore| the same.

55

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------. Personal Interview. 27 June 2006.

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(1941): 491-99.

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of the Musical Association. Quoted in Joseph H. Summers. George Herbert: His

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Religion and Art. Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance

Studies, 1981.

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for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1981.

Vaughan Williams, Ralph. Quoted in O. Alan Weltzien. �Herbert�s Divine Music in

Vaughan Williams� Five Mystical Songs.� George Herbert Journal 15 (fall 1991).

------. Five Mystical Songs. London: Stainer & Bell Ltd., 1911.

------. Five Mystical Songs. Guildford Choral Society. The Philharmonia Orchestra.

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57

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Jessica Horton earned her B.M. degree in

Piano Performance in 2001 from Bob Jones University, where she studied with Anne

Morton. In 2003 she completed her M.M. degree in Accompanying from Florida State

University, where she studied with Carolyn Bridger. Jessica remained at FSU to pursue a

D.M. degree in Accompanying, completed in 2006. Her accompanying activities include

work as a choral accompanist at Interlochen Arts Camp, accompanying the Tallahassee

Bach Parley, and her current work as staff accompanist both for The South Carolina

Governor�s School for the Arts and for Furman University.

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