In Flanders’ Fields

Lyricist. Lieut. Col. John McCrae

Publisher. M. Witmark and Sons

Date. 1918

Key/Range. D Minor (d' -- f")

COMMENTARY

McCrae’s well-known lyric was treated by Tours with careful attention to the sound of the soldier’s voice and to the multidimensional message contained within the different sections of the verse. His setting expresses the shifting moods that were contained in McCrae’s words as the poet surveyed the death and destruction on the battlefield before him. Tours’ use of the version of the poem where the “poppies blow” (instead of “grow”) is illustrated by the undulating melodic line through the first six measures, as arpeggiated chords depict the gentle breeze that lift the flower petals from the ground up into the air, the two spaces that the soldiers inhabit in death. Though largely through-composed, the signature melodic phrase that appears first on the words “that mark our place and in the sky” recurs twice, descending through the harmonic minor scale in contrary motion against the haunting opening chord progression. As the voice communicates the soldier’s love of life from beyond the grave, the sonorities take on a spectral glow; and when the spirit regains its will to fight, the music matches its power and intensity. Tours alters the poem in only one place by separating the elision on the word “Torch” at 33 and 34, giving the word its place in both phrases for emphasis (“we throw the Torch” and “The Torch be yours”) for emphasis. When the opening phrase (“the poppies blow”) changes to “Though poppies grow,” the melody flattens out on the fifth and becomes chantlike, representing the spirit that remains on the desolate landscape of the quiet, windblown battlefield.