Wednesday 24 July 2024
Suffolk Book League welcomed back the author Caroline Davison to talk about her non-fiction book The Captain’s Apprentice: Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Story of a Folk Song, which was awarded the 2023 New Angle Prize. Caroline is a Norfolk-based writer with a background in conservation as well as performing as a singer with local folk bands.
The book’s title refers to a traditional folk song originating from the Norfolk town of Kings Lynn. This was one of many songs collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in the early years of the twentieth century before he had established his reputation as a classical composer. It is estimated that Vaughan Williams collected 800 songs on his travels and his time spent in Norfolk was particularly fruitful in this respect. The composer was more interested in the melody than the lyrics and elements of ‘The Captain’s Apprentice’ subsequently found their way into Vaughan Williams’ Norfolk Rhapsody No 1.
In a poor area of King’s Lynn the composer first heard the song performed by fisherman Duggie Carter. He was immediately struck by the beauty of the melody, in stark contrast to the brutal events communicated by the lyrics. These relate a tale of cruelty and abuse meted out by the ship’s captain to his young apprentice, Robert Eastick, a young man recently taken from the workhouse. The horrifying events culminated in the young man’s untimely death. This type of treatment was not uncommon on board ship in the early years of the twentieth century.
Davison’s book explores the world of Edwardian traditional folk songs and how these contributed to the development of Vaughan Williams as a composer. Collectors like Vaughan Williams brought folk music into the mainstream. The book evokes the hardships of working class people in coastal communities, the brutality of working class life and reminds us of the importance of conserving local aural traditions. This message was ably reinforced during her talk when those present were invited to join Caroline in a rendition of some familiar (at least to those of us of a certain age!) tunes from our childhoods.
Angela Bell
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