Monday Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams (Kingsfold)

Last week the music of Thomas Tallis, the father of English church music, was featured. This week it's the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams who played a primary role in establishing English sacred music in the 20th century. Himself an agnostic, he took on the task of revising the English Hymnal and the result was both solid and magical. He had long collected English folk tunes and incorporated many of those tunes in hymns he composed for the hymnal. Kingsfold is a wonderful example of the fusion of English folk music with English poetry. As such, "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say" has been included in Celtic celebrations as well as in Christian hymnals across many denominations.

Vaughn Williams may have been an agnostic, but that was surely reflective of the times that he was born into and the world in which we live today. He had a compassionate, humanitarian spirit and an ear for beauty and harmony. Kingsfold, set to the text by Horatius Bonar, 19th century Scottish poet and churchman, beautifully and transcendently declares our discovery of "this dark world's light."

(For further reading: Why Ralph Vaughan Williams should he as revered as William Shakespeare, by Simon Heffer, The Telegraph.

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A Musical Interlude "With Heart and Voice"

I had to go in to work last Sunday at the hospital. It was not my usual weekend duty, but I was working to allow a colleague the day off for her family. It would not be one's chosen activity to get up early to be at work by 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I know I like having some slow leisure time to enjoy the day on Sunday. One of the good things about Sunday duty at the hospital for me is that at 6:00 a.m., our local NPR station airs With Heart and Voice. I always enjoy listening to the classical hymns and choral arrangements presented on that program as I drive in to work. As a rule, however, I don't get up early enough to hear the program if I'm not going to work.

Last Sunday was an especially rich one as the program highlighted the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the British classical composer who was called upon to work on the hymnal for the Anglican Church. His musical compositions remain some of the best that continue to be offered in current church hymnals.

I was able to hear a few of the selections on my way to work that morning, and it helped my day to begin in gladness. The entire program can be heard online. I was able to find another rendition of Vaughan Williams fine hymn, "Come Down, O Love Divine" on YouTube and have included it below: