Talk:In the Fen Country

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In The Fen Country[edit]

The article refers to The Fens in East Anglia as the inspiration/setting for the piece; however, on page 87 of 'The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Vaughn Williams', a reference is made to several compositions of Williams (Harnham Heath; Boldre Wood; The Solvent; and In The Fen Country) as being set in the region of New Forest, in the County of Hampshire.

Considering that, at the age of three, Vaughn Williams moved to the County of Surrey, adjacent Hampshire, and his probable familiarity with the fens and heaths of the New Forest area, would it not be possible that Hampshire, rather than East Anglia (though the NorFolk Rhapsodies do help give the area credence) is the actual source of inspiration?

Thank you for your time and consideration, Arm46 (talk) 16:57, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It's an interesting thought, although on pg 88 of the same book Alan Frogley talks about the inspiration of the work being about "the wide flat vistas of the Fens" in the context of the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Fens, so I think the interpretation in the article is the most accurate. RVW collected folk songs in places like Cottenham, Fowlmere, etc while at Cambridge and also in the area between Wisbech and King's Lynn at the time he was writing the work, so would have known the area well. I guess as a "symphonic impression" it's whatever you imagine it to be, though, after all the London Symphony is really a "Symphony by a Londoner" isn't it? Rob (talk) 00:29, 4 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]