Whitman and Vaughan Williams

The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was a lifelong devotee of the poet Walt Whitman, carrying a volume of his work to the First World War and setting his words across the course of three decades. Indeed Whitman featured heavily in two of Vaughan Williams’ most important choral works - ‘A Sea Symphony’ and ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ - as well as numerous smaller pieces.

Laura Barton sets out to find out what it was about Whitman’s work that so appealed to the composer, exploring the various ways in which the poet’s expansive style and worldview both complemented and inspired Vaughan Williams’ approach. That exploration takes her to Bolton to attend the annual Whitman walk, which celebrates the poet’s relationship with a group of 19th-century workers in the town. There, she meets Whitman’s latest biographer Karen Karbiener - and also his pet canary. Laura speaks with members of the Choral Societies of Twickenham to find out what it’s like to perform the great works Vaughan Williams created using Whitman’s verse, and also Huddersfield, where Dona Nobis Pacem was premiered in 1936. She finds that this story of two extraordinary artistic figures who are so intimately connected to their own respective countries nonetheless offers a counter to the fierce nationalism of our present moment.

Readings by Gil Vernon

Contributors: Clinical Professor Karen Karbiener, Dr. Jacob Downs, Katrina Ledbetter, Howard Ionascu, Gloria Haliday, Joey Cain, Matthew Watson.

Presented by Laura Barton
Produced by Geoff Bird
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three