Views And Reviews: Fantasia on "Greensleeves"
Vaughan Williams developed along lines remarkably similar to the contemporaneous Bartok, says Paul Serotsky. “Yet, while the world has come to appreciate Bartok’s qualities and achievements, Vaughan Williams is still unaccountably dismissed by many as ‘parochial’.’’
Paul introduces the Englishman’s great Fantasia on “Greensleeves’’.
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Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) – Fantasia on "Greensleeves"
Vaughan Williams was a real one-off. He took what Parry, Stanford and Bruch had to teach him and made it his own. Then, when he became aware that his orchestral technique was inadequate for his needs, he went to “acquire a little French polish” from Ravel, who declared that VW was “the only pupil who does not write my music”. In bringing his rugged individualism to bear on the folk and church music of the English tradition, he developed along lines remarkably similar to the contemporaneous Bartok. Yet, while the world has come to appreciate Bartok’s qualities and achievements, Vaughan Williams is still unaccountably dismissed by many as “parochial”.
Vaughan Williams used the 16th. Century tune of “Greensleeves” in his Shakespeare-based opera Sir John in Love. That’s no big deal, is it? Well, it wouldn’t be if he’d simply followed the “rule” implicit in Constant Lambert’s well-known dictum: “The whole trouble with a folk song is that once you have played it through there is nothing much you can do, except play it over again and play it rather louder”. Vaughan Williams made it a big deal by digging out the lively tune of “Lovely Joan” to use as a counter-melody, a stroke of perceptive genius that enabled him to create a perfectly poised complement and contrast, to transform a penny-plain “variations” into this fabulous Fantasia.
© Paul Serotsky
