Prelude on 'Down Ampney'

The Cotswold village of Down Ampney was the birthplace of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), whose father was the vicar of All Saints Church. In 1906, Vaughan Williams named his tune for the great Pentecost hymn, 'Come down, O love divine' after his birthplace.

Like Vaughan Williams, his near contemporary Henry George Ley (1887-1962) was the son of a clergyman and also born in the west of England. After serving as organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Ley was charge of chapel music at both Eton and Radley Colleges before his retirement in 1945. His setting of Vaughan Williams' tune is a simple one: the famous melody is framed by two identical passages and is first clearly stated in the tenor before Ley repeats it an octave higher. There is, perhaps, more than a passing resemblance to Vaughan Williams' beautiful prelude on 'Rhosymedre'.

The 'Harrison & Harrison' organ which Ley would have known at Christ Church Cathedral is not too dissimilar to the Schulze organ of St Bartholomew's Church in Armley, Leeds, which is a fine example of Victorian organ building. Like the Christ Church organ, it has a clarinet on the choir division, which sound glorious in the tenor register. Although not indicated in his suggested registration, I suspect that Ley may well have used the clarinet for the first solo, as I have in this performance.