How Does Folk Music, and Music of the 16th Century Show a Clear Influence in the Music of Vaughan Williams? A2 Practice Essay 30/30

Vaughan Williams uses a lot of folk influence within his 5th symphony. Firstly there is the use of melody, Vaughan Williams was heavily influenced by folk songs even using snippets of folk melodies within his own symphonies; an example of this can seen in the 2nd movement four bars before figure 6, this folksy melody is emphasised by the the use of the high register of the flute within the melody, which deceives the person into thinking a more folk orientated instrument is being used known as the tin whistle. The use of a dancelike rhythm within the melody in 3/4 time is quite a danceable melody, the use of dancelike melodies is frequent in folk music particularly in times of festival when dances are an addition to the folk music. This use of danceable rhythm is continued within the second movement at theme D (2 bars after figure 17 at the time signature change) the rhythm within this piece is rather shanty-like (aka sea shanty) maintaining a simple and danceable rhythm. These shanty-like passages can also be seen within the fourth movement (around figure 6) where the exact same rhythm is used to create the same simple and danceable rhythm.

Some of the melodies are folksy bassed on their textural use. If we look at the third movement 2 bars after figure 4, we can see that the use of multiple unaccompanied woodwind passages imitating between eachother, with some rather pastoral passages which is considered folksy due to it's references to shepherd's lifestyle (part of general folk heritage) these pastoral like figures can also be seen in the fourth movement four bars before figure 9 where not only is there the use of pasoral-like passages between the woodwind, but the melodic material is also considered folksy due to the improvisatory nature of the material. Folk music usually had points at which the musicians would jam or improvise certain melodic material, with the texture of certain passages in Vaughan Williams' symphony, an example of this can be seen in the 1st movement during the development (3 bars before figure 7) in the strings where an extension of motif C creates a spacious and improvisatory melody.

However, the melody of Theme C within the development is not only folksy due to the improvisatory melody, but also the harmony within the melody. The melody 3 bars before figure 7 is also pentatonic. The pentatonic scale is used within a lot of country's folk music (in particular the oriental countries) we can also hear this sound in figure 2 of the 2nd movement in the quick interjecting quavers; although the harmony is actually quartal it sounds pentatonic. Moreso the emphasis of folk-like harmonies can be seen within the emphasis of modality, which Vaughan Williams uses frequently and almost constantly throughout the symphony. The modal system is folk-related because the modes were the harmonic system used before the tonal systems of harmony were established. We can see this in multiple different parts of the symphony in a variety of different modes; for example, the 1st movement is in Dorian mode from figure 1 emphasised by the flattened 7th pedal within the lower strings, the 2nd movement is at points within Phrygian and Aeolian mode with the melody at figure 1 having an indistinguishable tonic making it ambiguous along with the flattened 7th of theme C (near figure 10) contributing to this modality. The 3rd movement's modality can be seen within the Cor Anglais melody (the use of the raised fourth) in Lydian mode, and the parallel chords at figure 2 constantly shifting between phrygian and dorian mode (what's more the use of adjacent chords is generally considered a part of folk music). The 4th movement also uses Dorian mode (an example of this can be seen at the key change on page 104).

Modal music is not only a trait of folk music, it is also a trait of 16th century music which Vaughan Williams also takes influence from. Harmonically Vaughan Williams use of Static Harmony where the piece generally stays on one chord (this can be seen in both the beginning of the 1st and 4th movement, and the end of the 4th movement) this is a distinctive trait of 16th century music where there is large emphasis on one chord creating a long, simple, suspended harmony. The use of suspensions as prepared dissonance is a big trait of 16th century music where dissonance was used methodically. We can see most of these suspensions are used in the 3rd movement at figure 1 in the strings with a long string of 9-8 suspensions; 9-8 suspensions are also used in the 4th movement around figure 15 (in reminiscence of the 3rd movement). This use of dissonance methodically can be seen further into the 3rd movement around figure 3, where 9-8 suspensions and dissonance is used frequently but doesn't sound out of place (a big trait of 16th century music).

Vaughan Williams also uses contrapuntal passages at figure 3 of the 3rd movement; the use of contrapuntal voices was used in choral works such as madrigals that developed within the 16th century. These contrapuntal passages can also be seen in the 4th movement around figure 10 and in the 1st movement five bars before figure 4 where the motifs of the first movement are played in an imitative manner. Certain forms of imitation were used rather frequently in 16th century music. For example, stretto has been used in Vaughan Williams' symphony; examples of this can be seen in the 1st movement during the development five bars before figure 8, stretto music was commonly used in the 16th century (particularly in certain musical arrangements such as chorales). The use of staggered entries is also a part of renaissance choral music, where the melodic lines would enter at different points of the bar creating multiple different downbeats (this is also a trait of native African music, aka the folk culture of African music), we can see this in the 4th movement in the woodwind section starting on the last four bars of page 91, these contrapuntal and staggered entries eventually create a very layered texture, polyphony began to come into fashion within the renaissance era and hence it was used quite frequently.

This use of layered texture can be seen within the 4th movement starting nine bars before figure 7 where not only is the use of texture is related to 16th century, but the use of the melodic device of sequences. Theme A is played in sequence on the next page (16th century music usually played melodic motifs in sequences), but this isn't the only way that motifs were used within the 16th century; the emphasis of different motifs themselves was originally reinstated in the 16th century (with forms of music such as ricercar based around exploring specific motifs), the 2nd movement has a large emphasis on using a variety of themes that are used methodically throughout the movement (e.g. the use of Theme A as a main melodic theme being interjected by Theme B).

Certain forms in the 16th century were based around certain motifs. The Passacaglia (the form of the 4th movement) although a 17th century form is still centred around the use of specific motifs and is therefore in some ways related to the 16th century use of motifs. More related to the 16th century is a clear influence to a choral work: Stabat Mater by Palestrina, this similarity is seen in the opening chords of the 3rd movement where they both use chords with false relation and have a very similar chordal pattern altogether, making it heavily reminiscent to the religiously based renaissance music. Vaughan Williams also emphasises this idea of religion within the harmony at points with the use of a plagal cadence (generally considered religious due to it's relevance to the "amen") Vaughan Williams uses the I-IV-I progression within the third movement, most notably at the end of the piece.