• An acre of land
• Adieu (aka "Departure")
• And all in the morning
• The Angel Gabriel
• The birth of the Saviour
• The bloody gardener
• A bold young farmer
• A bold young sailor (used in Norfolk Rhapsody No.1)
• Bonnie banks of Virgie-o
• The brewer
• Bushes and briars
• The captain's apprentice (used in Norfolk Rhapsody No.1)
• The carnal and the crane (aka "The miraculous harvest")
• Cherry tree carol (aka "As Joseph was a-walking")
• Christmas now is drawing near
• Come love we God
• Coventry carol
• The cruel mother
• The cuckoo
• The Dark-Eyed sailor
• Dives and Lazarus
• Down in yon forest
• Earl Brand
• Early in the spring
• Eight traditional English carols
• Entlaubet ist der walde
• The first Nowell
• Five English folk songs
• Folk songs from Newfoundland
• Folk songs from the eastern counties
• Folk songs of the four seasons
• God bless the master of this house
• God rest you merry
• The green meadow (aka "The Lawyer")
• Greensleeves
• The gypsy laddie
• The Holy Well
• In Bethlehem city
• I saw three ships
• John Barleycorn (used in the second march of the English folk song suite)
• Joseph and Mary
• Just as the tide was flowing
• King William
• The lark in the morning
• Lord Akeman
• The Lord at first
• Lovely Joan (used in the Fantasia on Greensleeves)
• The lover's ghost
• the maiden's lament
• May-Day carol
• The morning dew
• Mummer's carol
• New year's carol
• Nine carols for male voices
• On Christmas day
• On Christmas night
• One man, two men
• Penguin book of English folk songs
• The ploughman
• Proud Nancy
• Robin Hood and the pedlar
• Rolling in the dew
• The Saviour's love
• Searching for lambs
• The seeds of love
• Seventeen come Sunday (used in first march of English folk song suite)
• The Sheep-shearing
• She's like the swallow
• Six English folk songs
• The sprig of thyme
• The springtime of the year
• Summer is a coming in
• Sweet William's ghost
• There is a flower
• Think of me
• Three Gaelic songs
• The truth sent from above
• The turtle dove
• The Twelve Apostles
• Twelve traditional carols from Herefordshire
• Two carols
• Two English folk songs (for voice and violin)
• Under the leaves (Seven virgins)
• The unquiet grave (How cold the wind doth blow)
• A virgin most pure
• Wassail song (from Gloucestershire)
• Wassail song (from Yorkshire : We've been a-while a-wandering)
• The winter's gone and past
• Young Floro

Unpublished Folksongs

• Cousin Michael

Many of these tunes have several sets of words to them, and some even have different names for the same set of words. Wherever possible, these alternatives have been given - most were arranged by Vaughan Williams seperately.

Vaughan Williams started to collect folksongs in 1903 in an effort to preserve them for posterity. Such songs had survived by being passed down the generations by word of mouth, usually within rural communities. He felt that the rapid industrialisation of the British Isles who mean than these ancient folksongs would soon be lost forever if they were not written down. Friends such as Gustav Holst were also involved in this endeavour.

Folk Song Arrangements

Vaughan Williams wrote far fewer of these than many critics would have you believe, and most are gems. I recommend inparticular the recordings by the Deller Consort, Christopher Bishop, and the solo song arrangements with tenor Robert Tear. Bishop and the London Madrigal Singers in particular offer one of the greatest choral performances in the history of recording. Two of the finest postwar Lieder singers, Susan Longfield, soprano, and Ian Partridge, tenor, deliver their solos and break your heart. And EMI have recently transferred it to CD as part of a 2 CD set, along with folksong material by other composers and performers; it's highly recommended.