Camellia is written for solo soprano.

It is one minute long.

It sets a haiku written by the seventeenth century Japanese poet, Matsuo Bashõ (c.1694):

Falling upon earth

pure water spills from the cup

of the camellia

Camellia is influenced by the haiku structure in using a pentatonic scale as a starting point. 

It is inspired by the beauty of nature, the fleeting image of time and the tradition of folk song in the Ralph Vaughan Williams archive, such as, Green mossy banks, The dew is on the grass and Down by some river.  

There is also a longer version that is part of a Song Cycle His Rents Home Bring which brings together different artefacts; texts, objects and images to explore human activity in the destruction of the earth.

Camellia was premiered by the wonderful soprano Mary Hubbell on 26 September 2024 in New York City at the MNN studios.