VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Bright is the ring of words

By David Govertsen

The music of Ralph Vaughan Williams has provided singers with a wealth of vocal repertoire, and for baritones his song cycle Songs of Travel surely holds pride of place.  Set to poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, the cycle presents a traveler in a variety of settings; marching off into the countryside, reflecting on the beauty of nature, recalling happy days long past.

​‘Bright is the ring of words’ considers the legacy of an artist, affirming that poetry and song live on even ‘after the singer is dead’.  It is a fitting text for a performer of art song, a testament to the transcendent power of words and music.

We celebrate the many great artists of the past who still live on in the present day through their works, and we look to the artists of tomorrow who will continue to provide humanity with words that ring brightly. 

Recorded at our gala concert in November 2019, ‘Bright is the ring of words’ features frequent Fourth Coast collaborator and chairman of the board of directors Dana Brown on piano. 

Author

Bass-baritone David Govertsen joined Fourth Coast Ensemble in 2017.  He has been active as a professional singer and educator for nearly twenty years, portraying a wide variety of opera’s low-voiced heroes, villains, and buffoons.  He discovered Schubert’s magical marriage of text and music as an undergraduate and has been hooked on art song ever since.