The Banks of Green Willow

George Butterworth belongs to that generation of English composers who developed a distinctive national musical language at the beginning of the 20th century. "The Banks of Green Willow" from 1913 stands as an exemplar of this movement, which consciously turned away from German Romanticism and sought new sources of inspiration in English folk music. The work is based on traditional English folk songs and embodies that pastoral musical language which became characteristic of English music of this period.

The composition is distinguished by impressionistic tonal coloring skillfully combined with folkloric elements. Butterworth succeeds in clothing the simple beauty of the folk melodies in sophisticated orchestral writing without alienating their original character. The music breathes the atmosphere of the English countryside and reflects that longing for a pre-industrial idyll which moved many artists of his generation.

The work is considered one of the most successful examples of Butterworth's compositional output, which was tragically cut short by his early death in the First World War in 1916. In its chamber orchestral scoring, "The Banks of Green Willow" unfolds an intimate effect that particularly suits the lyrical quality of the underlying folk melodies.