Six Studies in English Folk Song

About this piece

Vaughan Williams wrote the Six Studies in 1926 for the cellist May Mukle, who was also the dedicatee. According to an AllClassical programme note, she gave the premiere with her sister Anne at the Scala Theatre, London, during the English Folk Dance Society Festival. Each study states a folk tune in the cello and then repeats it in the piano while the cello adds an ornamented line. The six tunes are 'Lovely on the Water', 'Spurn Point', 'Van Diemen's Land', 'She Borrowed Some of Her Mother's Gold', 'The Lady and the Dragon' and 'As I Walked Over London Bridge'. AllClassical calls them 'not transcriptions of the tunes but rather elaborations on them.' Five slow, quiet studies are followed by a closing Allegro vivace. Stainer & Bell published the work in 1927 and still sell the cello part (H50) and piano part (H47) separately, with ECS/Galaxy as the US agent. The composer and others later arranged it for violin, viola, clarinet and other instruments. Recordings include Nicolas Altstaedt with José Gallardo, and the set appears on the RCM Grade 8 cello syllabus.

Technical overview

Six short movements, about 9-10 minutes in all: I. Adagio (E minor), II. Andante sostenuto (E-flat), III. Larghetto (D minor), IV. Lento (D mixolydian), V. Andante tranquillo (G), VI. Allegro vivace (A minor). The slow movements call for a sustained cantabile line over long slurs, frequent changes of meter, and movement through bass, tenor and treble clefs into the high register (thumb position). There are many pp passages and hairpin dynamics.

Technical focus

• Legato
• Shifting
• Thumb Position
• Dynamics
• Hairpin Dynamics
• Tenor Clef
• Treble Clef
• Meter Changes