Program Notes

Four Songs for Voice and Violin by Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was an English composer whose prominent position among 20thcentury English composers owes a great deal to the immense popularity of his orchestral work
The Planets. The only pieces to have achieved comparable success are on a much smaller scale,
yet equally idiosyncratic. His wholly individual blend of Hindu philosophy and English folksong
set him on a path far from the mainstream of European tradition, although his early works reveal
a thorough grounding in conventional forms.
Gustav Holst's inspiration for Four Songs for Voice and Violin, which includes settings of
medieval texts, came from a chance encounter. One evening in 1916, Holst accidentally
overheard a woman walking round inside Thaxted church, singing a tuneless melody while
playing the open strings of her violin. Upon completion of this work, he declared it to be the
closest he had come to "a tune at one with the words".
Jesu Sweet
Jesu Sweet, now will I sing
To Thee a song of love longing;
Do in my heart a quick well spring
Thee to love above all thing.

Jesu Sweet, my dark heart's light

Thou art day withouten night;
Give me strength and eke might
For to loven Thee aright.

Jesu Sweet, my dim heart's gleam

Brighter than the sunnbeam!
As thou wert born in Bethlehem
Make in me thy lovdream.

Jesu Sweet, well may he be

That in Thy bliss Thyself shall see:
With love cords then draw Thou me
That I may come and dwell with
Thee.

My soul has nought but fire and ice

My soul has nought but fire and ice
And my body earth and wood:
Pray we all the Most High King
Who is the Lord of our last doom,
That He should give us just on thing
That we may do His will.
I sing of a maiden
I sing of a maiden
That matchless is.
King of all Kings

Was her Son iwis.

He came all so still,

Where His mother was

As dew in April
That falleth on the grass:
He came all so still,
To His mother's bower
As dew in April
That falleth on flower.

He came all so still,

Where His mother lay
As dew in April
That formeth on spray.
Mother and maiden
Was ne'er none but she:
Well may such a lady
God's mother be.

My Leman is so true
My Leman is so true
Of love and full steadfast
Yet seemeth ever new
His love is on us cast.

He says "Behold, my side

And why on Rood I hung;"
For my love leave thy pride
And I thee underfong.

I would that all Him knew

And loved Him firm and fast,
They never would it rue
But happy be at last.

I'll dwell with Thee believe,

Leman, under Thy tree.
May no pain e'er me grieve
Nor make me from Thee flee.

He lovingly abides
Although I stay full long
He will me never chide
Although I choose the wrong.

I will in at Thy sleeve

All in Thine heart to be;
Mine heart shall burst and cleave
Ere untrue Thou me see.

Three Irish Folk Song Settings by John Corigliano

John Corigliano (b. 1938), whose father was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic,
currently serves on the composition faculty of the Julliard School of Music. His musical
imagination has led him to write pieces that combine genres or explore new possibilities with
older genres. For instance, Three Irish Folk Song Settings consists of settings of traditional folk
or folk-like texts accompanied by a flute whose melodies sometimes complement and sometimes
contrast with the original folk tunes, often forming its own independent melody line. John
Corigliano writes of Three Irish Folk Song Settings, "I tried to explore the more poetic side of
Irish flute music in these settings of folk or folk-like texts by W.B. Yeats, Padraic Colum and an
anonymous author"
In the first song, Down by the Salley Gardens, set to a poem by W. B. Yeats, the flutes low
ostinatos and quick runs that support the lyric vocal part. In its solo passages, the flute is allowed
to soar, playing variations and ornamentations on the folk melody.

In the second song, The Foggy Dew, written by an anonymous poet, the flute opens with a
highly ornamented version of the melody. This song draws sharp distinctions between the low
vocal line and light and higher accompaniment.
In the third song, She Moved Through the Fair, set to a text by Padraic Colum, the voice and
flute dovetail dissimilar material while navigating constantly changing time signatures.
The Salley Gardens
Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet.
She passed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy as the leaves grow on the tree.
But I being young and foolish with her did not agree.
In a field by the river my love and I did stand
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy as the grass grows on the weirs,
But I was young and foolish and now am full of tears.
The Foggy Dew
Adown the hill I went at morn a lovely maid I spied.
Her hair was bright as the dew that wets sweet Anners verdant side.
"Now where go ye, sweet maid?" said I. She raised her eyes of blue,
And smiled and said, "the boy I'll wed I'm to meet in the foggy dew!"
Go hide your bloom, ye roses red and droop, ye lilies rare,
For you must pale for very shame before a maid so fair!
Says I, "Dear maid, will ye be my bride?" Beneath her eyes of blue
She smiled and said, "The boy I'll wed I'm to meet in the foggy dew!"
Adown the hill I went at morn asinging I did go.
Adown the hill I went at morn she answered soft and low,
"Yes, I will be your own dear bride and I know that you'll be true."
Then sighed in my arms and all her charms they were hidden in the foggy dew.
She Moved Through the Fair
My young love said to me,
"My mother won't mind and my father won't slight you for your lack of kine."
and she stepped away from me and this she did say,
"It will not be long love, 'til our wedding day."
She stepp'd away from me and she went thro' the fair,
And fondly I watched her move here and move there,
And then she went homeward with one star awake,

As the star in the swam in the evening moves over the lake.
Last night she came to me, she came softly in
So softly she came that her feet made no din,
And she laid her hand on me and this she did say,
"It will not be long love, 'til our wedding day."
The Lamb from Ten Blake Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams (18721958) was an English composer whose strongly melodic music
frequently reflects his interest in Tudor composers and English folk songs.
Between 1957 and 1958 in the last year of his life, Vaughan Williams wrote the Ten Blake
Songs for tenor and oboe. This song cycle was composed for the documentary film The Vision
of William Blake written and directed by Guy Brenton. The film, which commemorated the bicentennial of Blakes birth explores his personal philosophy as expressed through his poetry and
artwork.
Once Vaughan Williams decided on setting the poems for tenor and oboe, the tunes were quickly
created and he wrote nine songs in four days. Regarding the tune The Lamb, on one morning
he said to his wife, Ursula, I was woken up by a tune for that beastly little lamb, and its rather a
good tune. Although the song cycle was intended for tenor and oboe, underneath the title in the
printed music it states for voice and oboe. Vaughan Williams never heard the cycle performed,
for he had died on 26 August at 86 years old.
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is calld by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild:
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are calld by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Vocalise by Henry Cowell

Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher,
publisher, and impresario who promoted and explained not only the new music of other, fellow
composers within the Western tradition but the exotic musics of the world: these roles perhaps
bear greater weight than does his own music. Cowell urged his contemporaries to draw on those
materials common to the music of all the peoples of the world, to build a new music particularly
related to our own century.

"Vocalise" is one of a group of works from the 1930s in which he took his own advice quite
explicitly: these pieces use a variety of deceptively simple and repetitive rhythmic patterns, and
modal melodies reminiscent of Asian and African models. "Vocalise" is a charming virtuoso
piece for flute and coloratura soprano in the tradition of famous antecedents like the Bell Song
from Lakm.
Ah....
"Une flte invisible" by Camille Saint -Sans
By the age of three, the French composer and keyboard virtuoso Camille Saint-Sans (18351921) could read and write and had penned his first piano piece; by seven he had mastered Latin;
and by ten he could perform from memory all 32 of Beethovens piano sonatas upon request. An
expert mathematician and a successful playwright, he published poetry, scholarly works in
acoustics and philosophy, and popular travelogues. Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was perhaps SaintSans' favorite poet, and the composer wrote two settings of the pastoral Viens! une flte
invisible, the first in 1855 as a duet for soprano and baritone with piano. The featured second
version for voice, flute and piano dates from 1885, the year the poet died.
Viens! - une flte invisible
Soupire dans les vergers. La chanson la plus paisible
Est la chanson des bergers.
Le vent ride, sous l'yeuse,
Le sombre miroir des eaux. La chanson la plus joyeuse
Est la chanson des oiseaux.
Que nul soin ne te tourmente.
Aimons-nous! aimons toujours! La chanson la plus charmante
Est la chanson des amours.
Come! An unseen flute

Sighs among the orchards.

The most peaceful song
Is the song that shepherds sing.
The wind ruffles beneath the ilex
The waters' sombre mirror.
The most joyous song
Is the song the birds sing.
Let no care torment you.
Let us love! Let us always love!
The most charming song
Is the song that lovers sing.