{"id":27438,"date":"2025-11-06T14:24:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ensemble.cymru\/?page_id=27438"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T14:24:59","slug":"natural-bedfellows-voice-and-violin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ensemble.cymru\/en\/discover-chamber-music\/natural-bedfellows-voice-and-violin\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural bedfellows – voice and violin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Jonathan Lyness
Programme Curator<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is often said that the cello is the instrument best able to imitate the human voice. And that the piano or guitar are the instruments best suited to accompany the voice. But which instrument is best able to converse with the voice? The answer is arguably the violin. Both \u2018instruments\u2019 \u2013 voice and violin \u2013 have a similar range (if the voice is female); both are able to glide freely, nimbly, even seductively between notes; both can negotiate contrasting dynamics across their range; both can brush across phrases, bounce playfully, attack feverishly, shadow, accompany or counterpoint each other with relish. So, it should come as no surprise that several composers have written duets for voice and violin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What may come as a surprise is that virtually all the significant classical repertoire for voice and violin comes from the 1920s! There is nothing of importance from any earlier period. If you\u2019d wanted to hear a violin accompanying a voice prior to this, your best bet would have been to find a village pub with a good folk music scene. And perhaps that\u2019s exactly what Vaughan Williams did, because he seemed to have started the ball rolling just a little earlier, in 1913, when he set two English folksongs for voice and violin \u2013 \u201cSearching for Lambs\u201d and \u201cThe Lawyer\u201d. By this time, Vaughan Williams was deeply ensconced in the folk-music revival, and being an excellent violinist himself, showed how the violin could be a beautiful and sensitive partner to the voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ralph Vaughan Williams c.1920<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Darius Milhaud c.1920<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Word must have spread as, for a few years, songs for voice and violin came thick and fast from the likes of Gustav Holst, Darius Milhaud, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Rebecca Clarke, not to mention Gregynog Hall\u2019s very own director of music Walford Davies who set \u2018Shepherd Boy\u2019s Song\u2019 in 1917, the manuscript of which is contained within the archive of the RCM. Very little is known of Milhaud\u2019s contribution from 1923, a setting of 4 poems by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus, translated into French. Milhaud was another violinist, the violin part displaying considerable technical bravura, with double-stops (that is, two or more strings forming chords and harmonies) coming in quick succession, complete with the composer\u2019s fingerings and bowings, and always complementing and nourishing the voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rebecca Clarke c.1908<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"handbill,<\/a>
handbill, dated in Clarke’s hand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca Clarke was an internationally renowned viola player who came to prominence during the 1920s for both her playing and her powerful chamber works. In her \u201cThree Old English Songs\u201d (1924) and \u201cThree Irish Country Songs\u201d (1926), Clarke deploys both violin and voice as equals \u2013 the violin is indeed sometimes more expressive than the voice, despite having no words! Clarke and Vaughan Williams were close friends, often performing together and sharing ideas, so it is highly likely that Clarke\u2019s songs would have spurred Vaughan Williams into returning to the voice\/violin genre. In 1927 he created a cycle of 8 songs entitled \u2018Along the field\u2019, proving once again that the violin and the voice really are terrific and natural bedfellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musicians<\/h2>\n\n\n\n