Three Shakespeare Songs

1951 classical choral music by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Not to be confused with Three Shakespeare Songs, pieces for solo voice and piano by Roger Quilter (Opus 6).

Three Shakespeare Songs

by Ralph Vaughan Williams, setting of text by William Shakespeare

The vocal score of Three Shakespeare Songs

Other name| Full Fathom Five; The Cloud-Capp'd Towers; Over Hill, Over Dale
Period| 20th-century classical music
Genre| Classical Part song
Language| Early Modern English
Composed| June 1951 (1951-06)
Publisher| Oxford University Press
Duration| 7 minutes approx
Vocal| SATB a cappella choir
Premiere
Date| 23 June 1951 (1951-06-23)
Location| Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
Conductor| Cecil Armstrong Gibbs

Three Shakespeare Songs is a piece of classical choral music written for an a cappella SATB choir. It was written in 1951 by the British classical composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The work comprises three short pieces which are settings of text from two plays by the English playwright William Shakespeare. It is published by Oxford University Press.

## Composition and first performance

[edit]

Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

In 1951 the British Federation of Music Festivals (of which Vaughan Williams was president) held its annual National Competitive Festival during the Festival of Britain. The festival included a choral competition in which choirs from around the United Kingdom would demonstrate their technical abilities by performing test pieces. Vaughan Williams's associate composer, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, tried to persuade him to compose a new test piece. Vaughan Williams was reluctant at first, and was of the opinion that the choirs should perform established test pieces rather than introducing a new composition.[1] Disappointed that Vaughan Williams had apparently failed to answer his letter, Armstrong Gibbs appeared to have given up on the idea:

> Soon afterwards I was stricken down with some illness and was in bed when a fat envelope, registered and bearing the Dorking postmark, was brought up. Inside was the MS. (manuscript) of the Three Shakespeare Songs dedicated to me and the briefest of notes which ran: "Dear Armstrong. Here are three Shakespeare settings. Do what you like with them... Yours ever R.V.W."

> — Cecil Armstrong Gibbs[1]

The songs were premiered in the Royal Festival Hall on 23 June 1951, conducted by Armstrong Gibbs.

## Harmonic style

[edit]

Stylistic comparisons have been made with Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony which was composed only four years earlier, notably of the second song, The Cloud-Capp'd Towers. Although the published version begins in the key of F♯ minor, the composer's original holograph was in E minor, which is also the key of the Sixth Symphony. The shifting between E minor and E♭ minor triads, as heard on the words "shall dissolve" has been compared to the conclusion of the Epilogue movement of the symphony.[2] Vaughan Williams himself later suggested that the meaning of the symphony's last movement could be summed up in the lines from The Tempest: "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on; and our little life / Is rounded with a sleep."[3]

## Texts

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The text of each song is derived from plays by William Shakespeare:

### Full Fathom Five

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The first song is a setting of Ariel's Song to Ferdinand from The Tempest. It refers to Ferdinand's father — Alonso, King of Naples — who is presumed drowned in a shipwreck and whose body undergoes a magical transformation in the ocean depths.[4] The spirit Ariel sings this song to a prince of Naples. Prince Ferdinand falsely thinks his father is drowned in the ocean.[5]

The Tempest, Act 1 scene 2:

Full Fathom Five

18-second sample from Vaughan Williams's arrangement of Full Fathom Five.

* * *

Problems playing this file? See media help.

> Full fathom five thy father lies,
> Of his bones are coral made;
> Those are pearls that were his eyes:
> Nothing of him that doth fade,
> But doth suffer a sea-change
> Into something rich and strange.
> Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
> Ding-dong.
> Hark! now I hear them, – ding-dong bell.

### The Cloud-Capp'd Towers

[edit]

The second song also uses lines from The Tempest, spoken by the sorcerer Prospero to conclude the masque at the wedding of his daughter Miranda to Prince Ferdinand. The characters, Prospero announces, will all fade away, and this play within a play itself becomes a metaphor for the transience of real life, the globe symbolising both the world and the Globe Theatre in London.[6]

The Tempest, Act IV scene 1

The Cloud-Capp'd Towers

16-second sample from Vaughan Williams's arrangement of The Cloud-Capp'd Towers.

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Problems playing this file? See media help.

> The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
> The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
> Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
> And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
> Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuff
> As dreams are made on, and our little life
> Is rounded with a sleep.

### Over Hill, Over Dale

[edit]

Text from A Midsummer Night's Dream forms the basis of the third song, the Fairy's Song to Puck. The furiously rhythmic verse evokes the mythology of Titania, the Fairy Queen.[7]

Over hill, over dale

6-second sample from Vaughan Williams's arrangement of Over hill, over dale.

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Problems playing this file? See media help.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II scene 1

> Over hill, over dale,
> Thorough bush, thorough briar,
> Over park, over pale,
> Thorough flood, thorough fire
> I do wander everywhere.
> Swifter than the moonè's sphere;
> And I serve the fairy queen,
> To dew her orbs upon the green.
> The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
> In their gold coats spots you see;
> Those be rubies, fairy favours,
> In those freckles live their savours:
> I must go seek some dew-drops here,
> And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Kennedy, Michael; Ralph Vaughan Williams (1992). The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford University Press. pp. 316–7. ISBN 0-19-816330-4.
2. ^ Byron Adams, Robin Wells (2003). "The Stages of Revision of the Sixth Symphony". Vaughan Williams Essays. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 13–14. ISBN 1-85928-387-X.
3. ^ Vaughan Williams, Ursula (1964). "XIII". R.V.W. A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford University Press. p. 283\. ISBN 0-19-282082-6.
4. ^ Schwerin-High, Friedrike Von (2004). Shakespeare, Reception and Translation: Germany and Japan. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 209\. ISBN 9780826474766. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
5. ^ "full fathom five thy father lies summary (Class 12)". Mero Notice. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
6. ^ "Such stuff as dreams are made on - eNotes Shakespeare Quotes". eNotes. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
7. ^ "SparkNotes: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act II, scene i". www.sparknotes.com. Retrieved 19 February 2018.

* v
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Ralph Vaughan Williams

List of compositions

Opera|

* Hugh the Drover
* Sir John in Love
* The Poisoned Kiss
* Riders to the Sea
* The Pilgrim's Progress

Ballet|

* Job: A Masque for Dancing

Orchestral works|

* A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1)
* A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
* Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 3)
* Symphony No. 4 in F minor
* Symphony No. 5 in D major
* Symphony No. 6 in E minor
* Sinfonia antartica (Symphony No. 7)
* Symphony No. 8 in D minor
* Symphony No. 9 in E minor
* In the Fen Country
* Norfolk Rhapsodies
* Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
* Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus
* The Story of a Flemish Farm
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Concertante|

* The Lark Ascending
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Chamber music|

* Romance for viola and piano
* Six Studies in English Folk Song

Choral music|

* A Cambridge Mass
* Five Mystical Songs
* Fantasia on Christmas Carols
* O clap your hands
* Mass in G minor
* Sancta Civitas
* Magnificat
* Five Tudor Portraits
* Dona nobis pacem
* Serenade to Music
* An Oxford Elegy
* Folk Songs of the Four Seasons
* Three Shakespeare Songs
* O taste and see
* Hodie

Vocal music|

* Songs of Travel
* "Whither Must I Wander"
* On Wenlock Edge
* Four Hymns
* Ten Blake Songs
* Four Last Songs

Incidental music|

* The Wasps
* The First Nowell

Film scores|

* 49th Parallel (1940 drama film)
* Coastal Command (1942 film)
* The Flemish Farm (1943 war film)
* Stricken Peninsula (1945 propaganda film)
* The Loves of Joanna Godden (1946 historical drama film)
* Scott of the Antarctic (1948 film)
* Bitter Springs (1950 film)
* The England of Elizabeth (1955 documentary)

Other compositions|

* English Folk Song Suite
* Sea Songs

Namesakes|

* Vaughan Williams Memorial Library

Related articles|

* Anglican church music
* Bath Bach Choir
* Curse of the ninth
* English Folk Dance and Song Society
* The English Hymnal
* The Oxford Book of Carols
* Society for the Promotion of New Music
* Songs of Praise
* Vaughan Williams and English folk music

Category

* v
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William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Characters|

| Lovers|

* Theseus and Hippolyta
* Oberon and Titania
* Hermia and Lysander
* Helena and Demetrius

|

Mechanicals|

* Nick Bottom
* Peter Quince
* Francis Flute
* Robin Starveling
* Tom Snout
* Snug

Others|

* Puck
* Egeus
* Philostrate

Productions|

| Film|

* 1935
* 1959
* 1968
* 1999
* 2017

|

Television|

* 1969
* 1981
* 1992
* 2016

Stage|

* 1970

Adaptations|

| Film|

* A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909, silent)
* Wood Love (1925)
* Dream of a Summer Night (1983)
* Get Over It (2001)
* A Midsummer Night's Rave (2002)
* Midsummer Dream (2005)
* Were the World Mine (2008)
* 10ml Love (2012)
* Strange Magic (2015)

|

Literature|

* A Midsummer Tempest (1974)
* Lords and Ladies (1992)
* A Midsummer Night's Gene (1997)
* A Midsummer's Nightmare (1997)
* The Great Night (2011)

Music|

* A Midsummer Night's Dream (1842, Mendelssohn)
* "Wedding March"
* Three Shakespeare Songs (1951)
* Symphony No. 8 (1992, Henze)
* Il Sogno (2004)

Opera|

* The Fairy-Queen (1692)
* Pyramus and Thisbe (1745)
* Puck (1949)
* A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960, opera)
* The Enchanted Island (2011)

Stage|

* The Triumph of Beauty (1646, masque)
* St. John's Eve (1852, play)
* The Park (1983, play)
* The Donkey Show (1999, musical)
* The Dreaming (2001, musical)
* The Lovers (2022, musical)

Comics|

* The Sandman: Dream Country (1991)
* Auberon
* Faerie
* Titania

Art|

* Hermia and Lysander
* The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania
* Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Titania and Bottom

Ballet|

* A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962)
* The Dream (1964)

Television|

* "Fascination" (1994, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
* "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1994, ShakespeaRe-Told)
* A Midsummer's Nightmare (2017)

Related|

* Love-in-idleness
* Pyramus and Thisbe (8 CE)
* Dead Poets Society (1989)
* The Apartment (1996)
* Wicker Park (2004)

* v
* t
* e

William Shakespeare's The Tempest

Characters|

* Prospero
* Miranda
* Ariel
* Caliban
* Sycorax
* Ferdinand
* Gonzalo
* Stephano

Sources|

* A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight
* Decades of the New World
* Montaigne's Essays
* Ovid's Metamorphoses (Of Cannibals)
* Erasmus's Naufragium
* Commedia dell'arte
* Sea Venture

Films|

* 1908
* 1911
* 1960
* 1963
* 1979
* 1980
* 1992
* 2010

Adaptations|

| Music|

* Three Shakespeare Songs (Vaughan Williams)
* The Tempest (Sullivan)
* The Tempest (Sibelius)
* The Tempest (Tchaikovsky)
* The Tempest (ballet) (Nordheim)
* "Don't Pay the Ferryman" (1982)

|

Screen|

* Yellow Sky (1948)
* Forbidden Planet (1956)
* Tempest (1982)
* The Journey to Melonia (1989)
* Prospero's Books (1991)
* The Tempest (1998)
* Shakespeare's Shitstorm (2020)
* Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022-2023)

Painting|

* Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest (c, 1736-1738, Hogarth)
* Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1850, Millais)

Musicals|

* Beach Blanket Tempest
* Return to the Forbidden Planet
* Amaluna

Plays|

* The Tempest (Dryden)
* The Sea Voyage
* The Mock Tempest (1674 Duffet)
* Une Tempête (1969 Césaire)
* The Sea (play) (1973)
* I'll Be The Devil (2008)

Opera|

* The Tempest (1756 Smith)
* Die Geisterinsel (libretto 1796)
* Die Geisterinsel (1798 Reichardt)
* Die Geisterinsel (1805 Zumsteeg)
* Der Sturm (1955 Martin)
* Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs (1991 Nyman)
* The Tempest (Adès 2004)
* The Enchanted Island (2011 Sams)

Poetry and
prose fiction|

* "Caliban upon Setebos" (Browning)
* "The Sea and the Mirror" (Auden)
* Indigo (Warner)
* A Midsummer Tempest (Anderson)
* Island (Rogers)
* Hag-Seed (Atwood)

Video Games|

* The Book of Watermarks (1999)

Phrases|

* "Ariel's Song"
* "Full fathom five"
* "Sea change"
* "What's past is prologue"

Sculpture|

* The Tempest (1966)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States

Other|

* MusicBrainz work

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