Ralph Vaughan Williams

Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus

For Ralph Vaughan Williams the traditional carol “Dives and Lazarus” was a decisive musical encounter. “I first discovered ‘Dives and Lazarus’” the composer says in his Musical Autobiography “in English Country Songs. Here, as before with Wagner, I had that sense of recognition – ‘here’s something which I have known all my life – only I didn’t know it!’” Vaughan Williams went on to arrange and edit several collections of traditional English carols as well as hymn tunes and folk songs. In 1939 he recalled and expanded on his original sense of recognition in a concert work, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for string orchestra plus harp.

Dives and Lazarus, the story of the rich man and the beggar, is a “carol” in the sense of being a strophic, traditional, English song on a religious, moralizing subject. The text (see below) tells of the rich man (dives in Latin) who refuses to give alms to a beggar at his door (lazarus = leper). Dives is confounded in the afterlife to see Lazarus raised to Heaven while he, the rich man, burns in Hell. The Dorian tune is of extreme simplicity. Its highest pitch is the lowered 7^th scale degree, which proclaims its modal flavor and discourages tonal cadences.

Because Dives and Lazarus had been transmitted since the Middle Ages through oral tradition it was sung to somewhat different tunes and with quite different words in different regions of England. By “variants” Vaughan Williams meant that he was not setting ”replicas” of traditional tunes, but rather “reminiscences of various versions.” The tune remains similar in its melodic outline from one “variant” to the next but tempo, texture, mood and setting change, somewhat like a variations movement in a symphony or string quartet. In the third variant the key changes from B Dorian to D Dorian (harmonized with Bb rather than B-natural), then to F and to C – always Dorian. Besides reminiscences of folklore, Vaughan Williams arouses reminiscences of English music of the Tudor era with its modal harmonies, multiplication of parts, and intricate counterpoint.

Below are the words to Dives and Lazarus (one version of many).

Dives and Lazarus

As it fell out upon one day,
Rich Divès made a feast,
And he invited all his friends,
And gentry of the best.

Then Lazarus laid him down and down
And down at Divès’ door:
“Some meat and drink, brother, Diverus,
Bestow upon the poor.”

“Thou’rt none of my brothers, Lazarus,
That liest begging at my door;
No meat, nor drink will I give thee,
Nor bestow upon the poor.”

Then Lazarus laid him down and down,
At Divès’ gate:
“Some meat, some drink, brother Diverus,
For Jesus Christ His sake.”

“Thou’rt none of my brothers, Lazarus,
That liest begging at my gate;
No meat, no drink will I give thee,
For Jesus Christ His sake.”

Then Divès sent out two merry men,
To whip poor Lazarus away;
They’d not the power to strike one stroke,
But threw their whips away.

Then Divès sent out his hungry dogs,
To bite him as he lay;
They hadn’t the power to bite one bite,
But licked his sores away.

As it fell out upon one day,,
Poor Lazarus sickened and died;
There came two angels out of heaven,,
His soul therein to guide.

“Rise up! rise up! brother Lazarus,
And go along with me;
For you’ve a place prepared in heaven,
To sit on an angel’s knee.”

As it fell out upon one day,
Rich Divès sickened and died;
There came two serpents out of hell,
His soul therein to guide.

“Rise up! rise up! brother Diverus,
And come along with me;
There is a place provided in hell
For wicked men like thee.”

Then Divès looked up with his eyes
And saw poor Lazarus blest;
“Give me one drop of water, brother Lazarus,
To quench my flaming thirst.”

“O, was I now but alive again
The space of one half hour!
O, that I had my peace again
Then the devil should have no power.”