Salisbury Plain, Op. 1

Version for horn and orchestra (2022)

Instrumentation: 2 (2nd fl. doubling piccolo).2.2.2. – 4.2.3.1. – Timps + 1 percussionist (Cymb. + Tam-Tam) – Harp – Strings.

This fantasy was composed for horn and piano in 1972 and the following year was awarded the first prize for a chamber work at the Mrs Sunderland Music Festival, Huddersfield (adjudicated by composer and musicologist Arthur Hutchings). It uses melodic material adapted from a song sung to Ralph Vaughan Williams by Mr and Mrs Verrall in Sussex in 1904. The song, some verses of which are given below, was first published in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, No. 8 (1906).

As I walked over Salisbury Plain,
Oh, there I met a scamping young blade.
He kissed me and enticed me so,
Till along with him I was forced for to go.

We came to a public house at last,
And there for man and wife we did pass.
He called foe ale and wine and strong beer,
Till at length we both to bed did repair.

Early next morning my love he arose,
And so nimbly he put on his clothes.
Straight to the highway he set sail,
And ’twas there he robbed the coaches of the mail.

Oh, it’s now my love in Newgate Jail do lie,
Expecting every moment to die.
The Lord have mercy upon his poor soul,
For I think I hear the death-bell for to toll.