- In the Fen Country
"In the Fen Country" is an orchestral
tone poem written by the English composerRalph Vaughan Williams . Vaughan Williams had completed the first version of the work in April 1904. [Kennedy, Michael, "The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams". Oxford University Press (ISBN 0198163304), p. 84 (1992).] He subsequently revised the work in 1905 and 1907.cite journal | url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4666(19200501)61%3A927%3C302%3AMBCXRV%3E2.0 | last=Evans | first=Edwin | title=Modern British Composers. X. Ralph Vaughan Williams (Contd.) | journal=The Musical Times | volume=61 | issue=927 | pages=302-305 | date=1 May 1920 | accessdate=2008-09-21] It is Vaughan Williams' earliest composition not to be withdrawn.Whilst various 1920 reports indicated that the score was lost at that time, one saying "perhaps irretrievably" and another saying "temporarily lost" [cite journal | url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4224(192004)1%3A2%3C78%3ARVW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O | title=Ralph Vaughan Williams | journal=Music & Letters | volume=1 | issue=2 | pages=78-86 | date=April 1920 | accessdate=2008-09-21] , Alain Frogley has commented in 1991 that the manuscript score is in the
British Library . [cite journal | url=http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4224(199105)72%3A2%3C308%3ARVWAGT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D | last=Frogley | first=Alain | title=Review: "Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Guide to Research" by Neil Butterworth | journal=Music & Letters | volume=72 | issue=2 | pages=308-310 | date=May 1991 | accessdate=2008-09-21]Described by Vaughan Williams as a "symphonic impression", it received its premiere under the conductor
Thomas Beecham in 1909. The piece is meant to evoke feelings of traversingEast Anglia 's often bleak Fen landscape, illustrated by the solo opening melody, the wide open spaces then portrayed by the sweeping string orchestral textures.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.