The Captain's Apprentice: Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Story of a Folk Song

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Unusual, evocative non-fiction about the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and folk, how it changed his music, our cultural landscape and the people and traditions he collected from. ***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4*** A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams In January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England's most famous composers, visited King's Lynn, Norfolk, to find folk songs 'from the mouths of the singers'. He had started collecting in earnest little more than a year before but was now obsessed with saving these indigenous tunes before they were lost forever. An old fisherman, James 'Duggie' Carter, performed 'The Captain's Apprentice', a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard. The Captain's Apprentice is the story of how this mysterious song 'opened the door to an entirely new world of melody, harmony and feeling' for Vaughan Williams. With this transformational moment at its heart, the book traces the contrasting lives of the well-to-do composer and a forgotten King's Lynn cabin boy who died at sea, and brings fresh perspectives on Edwardian folk-song collectors, the singers and their songs. While exploring her own connections to folk song, via a Hebridean ancestor, a Scottish ballad learnt as a child and memories of family sing-songs, the author makes the unexpected discovery that Vaughan Williams has been a hidden influence on her musical life from the beginning - an experience she shares with generations of twentieth-century British schoolchildren. 'Her gift is a work of love and infinite care' KEGGIE CAREW, author of Dadland 'I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and its weaving of biography, social history and folk song' STEVE ROUD, author of Folk Song in England

Reviews

The book makes for a quirky, fascinating read. Davison excels in evoking English landscapes, especially in Vaughan Williams's beloved fen country -- Christopher Hart * The Sunday Times *
The Captain's Apprentice explores a more profound and complex seam of folk discovery, and concentrates on a single life-changing episode in Vaughan Williams' life... [it is] well written and researched -- Ian Thomson * Financial Times *
Animated, entertaining . . . quietly sensitive to ironies and ambiguities without being pretentious, presenting a richly complex picture of a subject that can all too easily be shrouded in a sentimental haze * Daily Telegraph *
Davison's evocative, far from linear approach does great service to the composer * Literary Review *
A sadistic murder and the staggering words of a song drive Davison's obsession to unravel this vivid story of lives, landscapes and musical inspiration. No stone is left unturned in the meticulous gathering. Her gift is a work of love and infinite care -- Keggie Carew, Costa Award-winning author of DADLAND

Author Bio

Before becoming a writer, Caroline Davison worked as a conservationist in the heritage sector for thirty years. Her publications include a novel, The Pleasure Garden, and a number of non-fiction essays. Caroline also writes and performs music and has been a singer in various bands and choirs since the age of seventeen. She lives and works in Norfolk.