Raggle Taggle Tunes
​for Organ Solo

Raggle Taggle Tunes is a three movement organ work, inspired and influenced by British folksongs. It is partly a tribute to the work of Gustav Holst in the English town of Thaxted, where he made a valuable contribution as a composer, arranger and conductor. Holst was a keen enthusiast of folksongs and traditional dances, and incorporated a number of them into his own compositions. Raggle Taggle Tunes combines some of the melodies and characteristics of folk music with jazz and modern styles. The first movement is called Step Up, and has a lively dance character. It alternates an original jazz-folk inspired melody with the folksong 'Raggle-Taggle Gypsies'. The second movement Lazarus Blues is based on the folksong 'Dives and Lazarus'. Holst made a choral arrangement of the song for the Thaxted Festival when he was living there, and Vaughan Williams also famously set it for strings and harp. The song tells of the rich man Dives being sent to hell for his lack of compassion towards the poor Lazarus. This piece turns the song into a brooding blues, with a feeling of a passionate spiritual. Finally, Whirligig Jig is an energetic folk dance with jazz harmonies, using the traditional song 'The Keel Row' in a joyous conclusion.

The piece was composed for the historic Lincoln organ from 1821 in Thaxted Parish Church, with its unusual layout. To allow performance on the instrument there is a simple pedal part, relatively few stop changes and a harmonic language that fits the meantone tuning. It can be performed on larger instruments using a greater variety of colour and dynamics.

Raggle Taggle Tunes was commissioned and funded by generous support from the Eric Thompson Trust and the Thaxted Lincoln Organ Committee. It was first performed by Peter Holder at the Lincoln organ in Thaxted Parish Church on Saturday 29th June 2024.

Duration: c.12 mins

1 - Step Up (c.3'10)
2 - Lazarus Blues (c.4'40)
​3 - Whirligig Jig (c.4'00)

Raggle Taggle Tunes is available from Aria Editions here