The Vagabond

Robin Hendrix sings The Vagabond, first song for the cycle Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan Williams, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson. This performance was recorded in Holland, Oct 2008, with Michel Prezman accompanying. Here Stevenson's poem captures a young man's bravado at setting out on a long journey through the French Cevennes, a rough countryside in south central France. We hear Stevenson expressing fearlessness in the face of loneliness, autumn's chill and winter's freeze. He wants only the sky above him and the road below his feet. He eats bread dipped in the river, and sleeps under the stars each night. The stars in his day would have been magnificent, since there was no man-made light to disturb them, and in the countryside, no buildings to block the night sky. Stevenson wrote the poetry and a travelog of his journey, Travels with a Donkey, recording his experiences and emotions of this fantastic nearly year-long journey through rough terrain, and the interesting villages and personalities he met along the way. Another song from this cycle, Bright is the Ring of Words, is also available for viewing on YouTube. The performers welcome your comments, and hope that you discover this wonderful book and the poetry that resulted from such a life-changing journey. In fact, Vaughan Williams himself was so taken by the whole work that he had to make the same journey himself, years later, to better capture in music the enormity of the journey young Stevenson made. The journey was one designed to help a young man sort out whether to marry an American divorcé or to follow the wishes of his Scottish family, who were against the union. Love has its ways, and he made his choice after the journey's end, leaving for America as soon as possible.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Robin Hendrix
• vagabond
• Vaughan Williams
• Stevenson
• Michel Prezman
• english poet
• perpignan

[Proplytiri]

This is earth shatteringly incredible. I've never witnessed anything like this.

[jayeffsb49]

One of the very best versions I´ve heard of this song. Thanks for posting.