0:00 Introduction

0:11 Seventeen Come Sunday
0:53 Pretty Caroline
2:16 Dives and Lazarus
3:22 My Bonny Boy
4:11 Green Bushes
5:12 Blow Away the Morning Dew
6:11 High Germany
6:51 Whistle, Daughter, Whistle
7:43 Claudy Banks
8:35 John Barleycorn

9:56 Summary


English Folk Song Suite is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for military band as Folk Song Suite and its premiere was given in London on 4 July 1923, conducted by Lt Hector Adkins. The piece was then arranged for full orchestra in 1924 by Vaughan Williams' student Gordon Jacob and published as English Folk Song Suite. The piece was later arranged for British-style brass band in 1956 by Frank Wright and published as English Folk Songs Suite. All three versions were published by Boosey & Hawkes; note the use of three different titles for the three different versions.


Ralph Vaughan Williams used nine authentic folk songs in his English Folk Song Suite (1923). I have matched each folk song as used by Vaughan Williams with a field recording of the same song.

Five of these are early phonograph recordings (two probably made by Vaughan Williams himself), which were most likely the actual recordings from which he derived the melodies. The others are traditional performances of the same songs recorded in more recent years. For these, I attempted to find recordings that were as similar as possible to the melodies used by Vaughan Williams, since versions of the same folk song often use completely different tunes.

All of the nine recordings are authentic in the sense that they were performed by ordinary people who most likely learnt them orally from older members of their communities. Most of the songs are hundreds of years old, and the “Roud” and “Child” numbers can be used to find further information and recordings.

I encourage anyone interested in traditional folk music to explore and subscribe to Reynard the Fox’s channel: [ Ссылка ]

The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website may also be of interest: [ Ссылка ]
It's a huge database of folk song recordings, manuscripts and references, and the resource I used to find many of these recordings.

Don't forget to also subscribe to this channel! There are several videos planned, including something on sea shanties and possibly one showcasing lots of authentic folk recordings that I think are particularly interesting or beautiful.

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