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'''''The Story of a Flemish Farm''''' is an orchestral suite by British composer [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], based on the score for the 1943 film ''[[The Flemish Farm (film)|The Flemish Farm]]'' - a wartime drama set in occupied Europe, and written when Vaughan Williams was 70.
{{Infobox Film
⚫
| name = The Story of a Flemish Farm
| image =
| caption =
| director = [[Jeffrey Dell]]
| producer = [[Sydney Box]]
| writer = [[Jeffrey Dell]], [[Jill Craigie]]
| starring = [[Clive Brook]], [[Clifford Evans]], [[Jane Baxter]]
⚫
| music = [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]
| cinematography = Eric Cross
| editing =
| distributor = Two Cities Films
| released = 6 September 1943
| runtime = 82 minutes
| language = English
| budget =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}


The score comprises seven movements, which follow the flow of the story:
'''''The Story of a Flemish Farm''''' (or '''''The Flemish Farm''''') is a 1943 film, based on an actual war-time incident. The film was made with the cooperation of both the Belgian government and the British [[Air Ministry]].
#The Flag Flutters In The Wind.
#Night By The Sea, Farewell To The Flag.
#Dawn In The Old Barn, The Parting Of The Lovers.
#In The Café.
#The Major Goes To Face His Fate.
#The Dead Man's Kit.
#The Wanderings Of The Flag.


The music takes themes from a number of folk tunes, along with references to [[A Sea Symphony]] of 1909 and his [[Symphony No. 6 (Vaughan Williams)|6th Symphony]], which followed in 1947.<ref>[http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue29/williams.htm Positive Feedback ''(retrieved 28 October 2010)'']</ref>
==Plot==
In May 1940, as German forces sweep across [[France]] and [[Belgium]], the remains of the [[Belgian Air Force]] are bottled up near the Flemish coast, and billeted at a [[farm]] in the Flemish countryside. Ordered by their government to surrender, the commander gives orders that the [[regimental colours]] be honorably buried, rather than surrendered to the invaders. The few pilots with servicable aeroplanes fly to England to join the Allied airforces, whilst those remaining are forced to surrender.


Vaughan Williams conducted the suite himself at a Promenade concert in July 1945, though he remarked that to call anything a suite was 'to damn it to extinction'.<ref>Michael Kennedy: note included with booklet for Chandos CD CHAN 100368.</ref> Christopher Thomas, writing in a record review, commented: ''"The bold strength of the melodic writing is highly idiomatic and reflects VW at the height of his creative powers shortly before the works that were to form the symphonic "Indian Summer" of his later years."''<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/july06/RVW_Film3_CHAN10368.htm Music Web ''(retrieved 28 October 2010)'']</ref>
Six months later, after fighting in the [[Battle of Britain]], Jean Duclos, now a [[squadron leader]], is persuaded by a fellow officer to return with him to retrieve the colours. The latter is killed before he can leave and Duclos persuades the authorities to [[parachute]] him into Belgium. He contacts his former commanding officer, now living as a civilian and secretly operating a resistance group. Duclos then returns incognito to the farm, where his late colleague's wife and child still live. She is initially unwilling to reveal where the colours are buried, believing that they aren't worth dying for. But she relents and the colours are retrieved.


The film score was recorded by the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], conducted by [[Muir Mathieson]]<ref name=bfi>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090113233057/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/33429 British Film Institute]</ref> and the suite has also been recorded by the [[RTÉ Concert Orchestra]] under [[Andrew Penny]], and by the [[BBC Philharmonic]] under [[Rumon Gamba]].
Duclos must now travel through several hundred miles of dangerous and heavily guarded country to reach neutral Spain, from where he returns to England. On his return, the colours are paraded and formally re-presented to the Belgian Air Force.


==Cast==
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
[[Clive Brook]] - Major Lessart


⚫
==External links==
[[Clifford Evans]] - Squadron Leader Jean Duclos
⚫
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036392/ IMDB entry for The Flemish Farm]
⚫
*[http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/262107.html Excerpts from the film score, by Ralph Vaughan Williams]


⚫
{{Ralph Vaughan Williams}}
[[Jane Baxter]] - Tresha


{{Authority control}}
[[Wylie Watson]] - Flemish farmer

[[Philip Friend]] - Fernand Matagne

[[Ronald Squire]] - Hardwicke

[[Brefni O'Rorke]] - Minister

[[Mary Jerrold]] - Mme Duclos

[[Charles Compton]] - Ledoux

[[Irene Handl]] - Frau

==Locations==

One scene was filmed on [[Chelfham Viaduct]], formerly of the [[Lynton and Barnstaple Railway]] in [[North Devon]]

⚫
==External links==
⚫
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036392/ IMDB entry for The Flemish Farm]
⚫
*[http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/262107.html Excerpts from the film score, by Ralf Vaughan Williams]


⚫
{{DEFAULTSORT:Story Of A Flemish Farm, The}}
[[Category:1943 films]]
[[Category:Aviation films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ralph Vaughan Williams]]
[[Category:British drama films]]
[[Category:1943 compositions]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:War films based on actual events]]
[[Category:World War II films]]
[[Category:Battle of Britain films]]
[[Category:Lynton and Barnstaple Railway]]

Latest revision as of 17:47, 23 April 2022

The Story of a Flemish Farm is an orchestral suite by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on the score for the 1943 film The Flemish Farm - a wartime drama set in occupied Europe, and written when Vaughan Williams was 70.

The score comprises seven movements, which follow the flow of the story:

  1. The Flag Flutters In The Wind.
  2. Night By The Sea, Farewell To The Flag.
  3. Dawn In The Old Barn, The Parting Of The Lovers.
  4. In The Café.
  5. The Major Goes To Face His Fate.
  6. The Dead Man's Kit.
  7. The Wanderings Of The Flag.

The music takes themes from a number of folk tunes, along with references to A Sea Symphony of 1909 and his 6th Symphony, which followed in 1947.[1]

Vaughan Williams conducted the suite himself at a Promenade concert in July 1945, though he remarked that to call anything a suite was 'to damn it to extinction'.[2] Christopher Thomas, writing in a record review, commented: "The bold strength of the melodic writing is highly idiomatic and reflects VW at the height of his creative powers shortly before the works that were to form the symphonic "Indian Summer" of his later years."[3]

The film score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Muir Mathieson[4] and the suite has also been recorded by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Andrew Penny, and by the BBC Philharmonic under Rumon Gamba.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Positive Feedback (retrieved 28 October 2010)
  2. ^ Michael Kennedy: note included with booklet for Chandos CD CHAN 100368.
  3. ^ Music Web (retrieved 28 October 2010)
  4. ^ British Film Institute
[edit]
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