The Captain's Apprentice - Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Story of a Folk Song

***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4***

A beautifully written exploration of the world of Edwardian folk music, and its influence on the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

In January 1905 the young Vaughan Williams, not yet one of England''s most famous composers, visited King''s Lynn, Norfolk, to find folk songs ''from the mouths of the singers''. He had started collecting in earnest little more than a year before but was now obsessed with saving these indigenous tunes before they were lost forever. An old fisherman, James ''Duggie'' Carter, performed ''The Captain''s Apprentice'', a brutal tale of torture sung to the most beautiful tune the young composer had ever heard.

The Captain''s Apprentice is the story of how this mysterious song ''opened the door to an entirely new world of melody, harmony and feeling'' for Vaughan Williams. With this transformational moment at its heart, the book traces the contrasting lives of the well-to-do composer and a forgotten