AMEB Grade 5 Analysis - The Vagabond by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Vagabond by Ralph Vaughan Williams
1. Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams
2. Poet: Robert Louis Stevenson
3. Song Type: English Art Song
4 Song Form: Modified-Strophic Form
5. Key Signature: 3 Flats (C minor)
6. Time Signature: C (common time) 4/4
Introduction
- LH establishes the crotchet rhythm that continues the song and represents the vagabond trudging across the countryside.
- RH has the ‘Give to me the life’ motif.
Strophe 1
- Vocal line composed of chord note leaps and steps.
- Flattened 7th (Bb) giving the line a modal character (Aeolian)
- The triplet figure and arpeggio notes at the words ‘Give to me the life’ become a motif and represent the vagabond’s free choice of lifestyle
- In the progression in bars 21-22, it is not a perfect cadence, but still functions as a dominant-tonic resolution.
- The piano then repeats the intro.
Strophe 2
- The music of Stanza 2 is the same as Stanza 1, except for the words and the additional tenuto marks in bar 37.
- An additional transitional bar to lead to strophe 3. (p43)
Strophe 3
- Starts in E minor, the relative minor of G major.
- New melody, however harmony stays the same.
- Melody moves by step, more than by leap unlike previous Strophes
- Makes a modulation to G minor in bar 49
- Briefly going into A minor in bar 57
- Returns to C minor in bar 59
Strophe 4
- The vocal line is almost identical to the vocal line in Strophe 2, other than the ‘me’ in bar 75 is extended into a minim instead of a crotchet
- The dynamic markings are more extreme