"Boy Johnny" [Ralph Vaughan Williams]

"Boy Johnny" [Ralph Vaughan Williams]

First line of lyrics: If you'll busk you as a bride

Vaughan Williams, Ralph; music (English, 1872-1958)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

1902 [publication]; 1905 [publication]; 1914 [publication] [copyright]; 1942 [copyright renewal]

London: the Vocalist Co. Ltd.; London and New York: Boosey & Co. Ltd.

genre: song

solo: voice

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: one sharp

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United Kingdom

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Boy Johnny"

Tempo markings: "Andante con moto"

Performance history: "First performance, Oxford, during Commemoration Week, 1902. First performance in London, St James's Hall, 22 April 1903, by Francis Harford (bass) and Ernest Walker (pianoforte)." (Kennedy, p. 16)

Recordings: "Boy Johnny." Kissing her Hair: Twenty Early Songs of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Performance by Iain Burnside, piano and Roderick Williams, baritone, Albion Records, 2008.

Dedication: "To J. Campbell McInnes, Esq."

Notes: In E minor. Published in "The Vocalist", vol. 1, no. 6 (September 1902). Kennedy states that it was reissued with "If I Were a Queen" in 1905 by the Vocalist in F sharp modal minor (p. 29), and again in 1914 by Boosey & Co. Ltd., London and New York, in E modal minor (p. 74).

Format 1: musical score

3 pages; performance time 2 minutes

In reference to the published works below: Gooch and Thatcher 4252

Reference: Gooch, Bryan N.S. and David S. Thatcher. Musical Settings of Early and Mid-Victorian Literature: A Catalogue. New York: Garland, 1979.

Reference: Ezust, Emily. The LiederNet Archive. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/index.html

Reference: IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, http://imslp.org/

Other data reference(s): Kennedy, Michael. A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 16, 29, 74. Scholars Portal, https://books-scholarsportal-info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/uri/ebooks/ebooks0/oxford/2009-11-30/3/0198165846.
Pearson, Jonathan and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society. The Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Digital Issues). "Discography." The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, https://rvwsociety.com/discography/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2020.

Cataloguer: Melissa Poon and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa

musical score: IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, https://imslp.org/wiki/Boy_Johnny_(Vaughan_Williams%2C_Ralph). Accessed 1 Dec. 2018.

Record: CRM-boyjohnny-vaughanwilliams

File(s): CRM-boyjohnny-vaughanwilliams.pdf

"© Copyright 1914 by Boosey & Co.; Renewed 1942. Copyright for all countries. All rights reserved."

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