Fantasia on Greensleeves

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1874-1953) has composed some of the 20th century’s most beloved symphonic works, including The Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme of Tallis, and the Fantasia on Greensleeves. This last work is beautiful and simple, perhaps beautiful because of its simplicity. Vaughan Williams adheres faithfully to the melody as it had been passed down over the centuries. Historians have shown that the melody first appears in song books from the late-16th century. Shakespeare referred to it in The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1602) in a passage that attests to its popular recognition. Today’s listener may know it, too, as the Christmas carol “What Child is this?” Ironically, Vaughan Williams is not solely responsible for the success of his Fantasia on Greensleeves. He originally used the theme in a now-forgotten light opera, Sir John in Love (1924-28), based on the Falstaff stories. Five years later Ralph Greaves made an arrangement of the material for string, harp, and flute, and it is this version that went on to achieve such fame.
The four-minute piece follows a simple ABA form, with the Greensleeves melody used as foundation for section A. It begins with a high solo flute that falls slowly through two octaves. Its gentle descent, with all the grace and languor of a falling leaf, is balanced by rising arpeggios in the harp. The Green-sleeves tune enters as a lovely violin-viola duet, but with increased familiarity, one begins to pick out the composer’s subtle counterpoint in the other parts. For section B, Greaves borrowed contrasting material based on the folksong “Lovely Joan” from elsewhere in the opera. A brief flute cadenza leads seamlessly to the reprise of section A. The reprise contains a subtle but significant alteration in scoring, as the Greensleeves tune is played by viola and cello. This darker and warmer treatment contrasts beautifully with high violins, which take the theme’s second half and lead to an unadorned finish.

(c) Jason Stell