English Folk Song Suite is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for the military band as Folk Song Suite and its premiere was given at Kneller Hall on 4 July 1923, conducted by Lt Hector Adkins. The piece was then arranged for full orchestra in 1924 by Vaughan Williams' student Gordon Jacob and published as English Folk Song Suite. The piece was later arranged for British-style brass band in 1956 by Frank Wright and published as English Folk Songs Suite. All three versions were published by Boosey & Hawkes; note the use of three different titles for the three different versions. The suite uses the melodies of nine English folk songs, six of which were drawn from the collection made by Vaughan Williams’ friend and colleague Cecil Sharp. Structure The suite consists of three movements: March, Intermezzo and another March. The first march is called "Seventeen Come Sunday", the Intermezzo is subtitled "My Bonny Boy" and the final movement is based on four "Folk Songs from Somerset". It originally had a fourth movement, "Sea Songs", which was played second, but the composer removed it after the first performance and published it separately, with his own orchestration. March: "Seventeen Come Sunday" Seventeen Come Sunday opens after a four-bar introduction with the principal melody – the folk song "Seventeen Come Sunday" (Roud 277) – played by the woodwind section (flutes in orchestrated version). This melody is repeated, and the woodwind is joined by the brass (violins in orchestrated version). The phrasing is irregular – the melody lasts for thirteen bars. Vaughan Williams appears to have used two alternative versions of this song from Cecil Sharp's collection, one from the Traveller Kathleen Williams in the Forest of Dean, and the other from his prolific source Lucy White of Hambridge, Somerset. This melody is followed by "Pretty Caroline" (Roud 1448) as a quiet air for solo clarinet or solo cornet (clarinet only in orchestrated version), which is also repeated. This tune was derived from a recording made in 1908 by Ella Mary Leather from Ellen Powell of Westhope, Herefordshire, using a phonograph loaned to her by Vaughan Williams. He later transcribed the song from the recording, which is publicly available online. A third melody, "Dives and Lazarus" (Roud 177, Child 56) then enters in the lower instruments. This tune comes from the collection of Vaughan Williams