On Wenlock Edge Poem Analysis - 1324 Words

Evaluate the use of melody, rhythm and texture in creating an effective setting of the poems by A.E Housman in â€Å"On Wenlock Edge† by Vaughan Williams. â€Å"On Wenlock Edge† is a song cycle of six pieces by Vaughan Williams, set to words from A.E Housman’s collection of poems - â€Å"A Shropshire lad†. Having studied music with the likes of Ravel, Williams was very aware of the impressionist movement (particularly in France) that was in full swing at the beginning of the 20th century - he also spent much of his life travelling around England, collection folk songs (particularly those of the Tudor period). These influences are distinctly heard in â€Å"On Wenlock Edge†. Put simply, the poems that make up â€Å"A Shropshire Lad† depict country life, however†¦show more content†¦The melodies in these pieces also have been used to attain a sense of immersion in the English countryside, a place where Williams’ folk songs would have been found. The recitative style melodic line at the beginning of â€Å"Is My Team Ploughing?† contributes to this feeling as it was written in D Dori an mode, a particular scale that is very recognisable from it’s use in traditional folk songs. A famous example of this is Greensleves, a traditional Elizabethan folk song written in Dorian mode, which, like in Williams’ song, has a very distinctive feel to it. In the poem that â€Å"On Wenlock Edge† is set to, Housman presents a landscape that is under torment in a heavy storm, with strong winds. With resources that are not suited to create such an effect (a string quartet, piano and voice), Williams relies on other composition methods to set the text truthfully. At the beginning, the strings and piano play triplets and sextuplets, with the strings using tremolo. The rhythms are often used to present a constant movement, or fluidity in the music, as is used to represent the wind, with the tremolo adding a slightly frantic, unpredictability to it. At the time that the pieces were written, programme music had recently become a popular style of composing, particularly shown by BedÃ…â„¢ich Smetana, whose work ‘Ma Vlast’ was published in 1872. The piece ‘Vltava’ from this describes the journey of the river