Vaughan Williams, Ralph (1872-1958)

[bluestateprommer]

Too late for the actual anniversary b-day (sorry), but from the NYT, c/o David Allen:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/arts/music/ralph-vaughan-williams-150th-anniversary.html

[Bryn]

As linked to by Nigel on FB.

[smittims]

Vaughan Williams' quoted remarks about music and his own involvement in it need, I think, to be taken in context with his times and beliefs.

Saying he learnt more from hymn tunes than from preludes and fugues does seem to contradict his other remark that young composers needed to 'do their stodge', learning basic academic skills. But I think it is in line with his approach to the place of music in life, his belief that a musician should first and foremost live in his community with his fellow men and share their ordinary life; hence his enlistment as a private in the army when he could easily have stood back, his love of the English Bible when he was an agnostic, and his work with amateurs and refugees.

On another level, he was openly suspicious of empty virtuosity, called Ephrim Zimbalist (privately) a 'show fiddler', and said ' I wonder how much one ought to know about writing for the violin'. I think he meant that too much specialisation prevented one from spending as much time as one should in community life. Yet at the same time he was one of the first to praise the rise in orchestral standards wrought by Henry Wood and Adrian Boult.

[bluestateprommer]

The Bard Music Festival is showcasing RVW this summer:

https://fishercenter.bard.edu/whats-on/programs/bard-music-festival/

Several of the concerts will be available as paid streams, for $20 per concert. I'm thinking about ponying up for the August 13 stream of Sir John in Love, for one.

[smittims]

This is good news. I wish I could be there. I thought the on-line presentation of the event excellently done.

VW has always been appreciated in the States. Several of his works had their first recordings or first stereo recording there. And I recall from the 1960s an excellent book analysing all nine symphonies with nicely-printed music examples, at the time I think ahead of anything published here, though we soon had Kennedy's 'The Music of Vaughan Williams'.

[Pulcinella]

This is good news. I wish I could be there. I thought the on-line presentation of the event excellently done.

VW has always been appreciated in the States. Several of his works had their first recordings or first stereo recording there. And I recall from the 1960s an excellent book analysing all nine symphonies with nicely-printed music examples, at the time I think ahead of anything published here, though we soon had Kennedy's 'The Music of Vaughan Williams'.

I 'grew up' with the BBC Music Guide to the symphonies written by Hugh Ottaway, published in 1972 (presumably for his centenary?). At that time it cost all of 45p. Still a bargain at £1.43 (used hardback).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vaughan-Williams-Symphonies-Hugh-Ottaway/dp/0295952334

[smittims]

Yes, those BBC Music Guides were excellent value. I had the Schubert Symphonies by Maurice J E Brown.

[gradus]

Carline Davidson's The Captain's Apprentice is a terrific read for any RVW enthusiast or indeed music lover.