| Folk Songs of the Four Seasons | |
|---|---|
| Cantata byRalph Vaughan Williams | |
 The composer in 1954 | |
| Occasion | The Women's Institute Singing Festival |
| Text | English folksongs |
| Language | English |
| Composed | 1949 (1949) |
| Performed | 15 June 1950 (1950-06-15) |
| Scoring |
|
Folk Songs of the Four Seasons is acantata for women's voices with orchestra or piano by English composerRalph Vaughan Williams written in 1949.[1] Based onEnglish folk songs, some of whichhe had collected himself in the early 20th century, the work was commissioned by theWomen's Institute for a Singing Festival held at theRoyal Albert Hall on 15 June 1950. The first performance featured a choir of 3,000 women, accompanied by theLondon Symphony Orchestra conducted by SirAdrian Boult.[2]Ursula Vaughan Williams remembered that owing to the huge choir "the audience seemed far fewer than the performers".[3]
The work is in four movements grouped into the seasons, with a prologue:[1]
The work is one of Vaughan Williams' lesser-known choral works,[2] and received its first recording in 2009 under SirDavid Willcocks conducting theChoir of Clare College, Cambridge, English Voices, and the Dmitri Ensemble.[4]
A fully orchestral version was arranged by Vaughan Williams' musical assistant and amanuensisRoy Douglas in 1952. Vaughan Williams considered the orchestral suite to be so much the work of Roy Douglas, that he arranged for it to be published as Douglas's composition based on his own, rather than his own arrangement of an earlier work.[5] The orchestral version was first recorded in 2012.[6]
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| Ballet | |
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| Concertante | |
| Chamber music | |
| Choral music | |
| Vocal music | |
| Incidental music | |
| Film scores |
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| Other compositions | |
| Namesakes | |
| Related articles | |
