Vaughan Williams on Music

Concert audiences have an enduring affection for the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams; a composer of dance, symphony, opera, song, hymnody, and film music, serious scholarship on his music is currently enjoying a revival. 2008 marks the 50th anniversary of Vaughan Williams passing. This collection brings together a host of lively writings, some for the first time, and many for the first time since their initial publication by one of the most articulate, beloved and engaging English composers. Making available essays, articles, broadcasts, and speech transcripts from 1901-1958, Vaughan Williams on Music exemplifies the multi-faceted nature of his contributions: active supporter of amateur music and English music, a leader in the folksong revival, educator, performer, and polemicist. Vaughan Williams was one of the cultural giants of his day, a figure of iconic stature whose influence stretched far beyond musical circles; his friendships with Bertrand Russell and G. M. Trevelyan, and his tireless work on behalf of a variety of organizations and causes, from Jewish refugees to the Third Programme, gave him a unique place in British national life. He also had a powerful influence in the United States, at a time when the international relationship was approaching its zenith. Through all these perspectives, the words are unmistakably those of a practicing composer; a young composer at the turn of the last century, trying to find his own musical voice amid widely diverse stylistic influences of the dominant and successful figures of Brahms, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky, and a mature composer in the mid-century, having found that glorious voice which continues to resound across the globe. The volume will be an important contribution to the literature not only on British music, but also on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British cultural and intellectual life as a whole, placing Vaughan Williams' political and aesthetic thought in a broader cultural perspective.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Musical Life and English Music 1: The Romantic Movement and its Results 2: A School of English Music 3: The Soporific Finale 4: Good Taste 5: A Sermon to Vocalists 6: Preface to The English Hymnal 7: Who Wants the English Composer? 8: British Music 9: Gervase Elwes 10: Introduction to English Music 11: Elizabethan Music and the Modern World 12: Sir Donald Tovey 13: A. H. Fox Strangways, AET. LXXX 14: Making Your Own Music 15: Local Musicians 16: The Composer in Wartime 17: Introduction to News Chronicle Musical Competition Festival for HM Forces 18: First Performances 19: Art and Organization 20: Choral Singing 21: Carthusian Music in the Eighties 22: Howland Medal Lecture 23: Preface to London Symphony 24: Introduction to The Art of Singing 25: Some Reminiscences of the English Hymnal 26: Hands off the Third Section 2: Continental Composers 27: Palestrina and Beethoven 28: Bach and Schumann 29: The Words of Wagner's Music Dramas 30: Brahms and Tchaikovsky 31: Ein Heldenleben 32: The Romantic in Music: Some Thoughts on Brahms 33: Verdi: A Symposium 34: Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) 35: Sibelius at 90: Greatness and Popularity Section 3: Folk Song 36: Preface to Journal of the Folk Song Society 37: Introduction to Folk Songs from the Eastern Counties 38: English Folk-Songs 39: Folk-Song in Chamber Music 40: Dance Tunes 41: Sailor Shanties 42: How to Sing a Folk-Song 43: The Late Mr. Frank Kidson 44: Lucy Broadwood: An Appreciation 45: Ella Mary Leather 46: Folk-Song 47: Cecil Sharp's Accompaniments 48: Arthur Somervell: June 5th 1866--May 2nd 1937 49: Cecil James Sharp (1859-1924) 50: Traditional Arts in the Twentieth Century 51: The Justification of Folk Song 52: Let us RememberEarly Days 53: Preface to Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 54: Lucy Broadwood, 1858-1929 55: Appeal on Behalf of the English Folk Dance and Song Society 56: Preface to Index of English Songs 57: Address to the Fifth Conference of the International Folk Music Council 58: Cecil Sharp: An Appreciation 59: Preface to International Catalogue of Recorded Folk Music 60: Martin Shaw 61: Preface to Folksong-Plainsong 62: The Diamond Jubilee of the Folk Song Society 63: The English Folk Dance and Song Society 64: Introduction to Classic English Folk Songs Section 4: British Composers 65: Sir Hubert Parry 66: Charles Villiers Stanford, by Some of his Pupils 67: Introductory Talk to Holst Memorial Concert 68: A Note on Gustav Holst 69: Gustav Theordore Holst (1874-1934) 70: Foreword to Eight Concerts of Henry Purcell's Music 71: Gustav Holst: A Great Composer 72: The Teaching of Parry and Stanford 73: Gerald Finzi: 1901-1956 74: Mr Gerald Finzi: A Many-Sided Man 75: Elgar Today Section 5: Programme Notes on Vaughan Williams's Music 76: Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue 77: Pan's Anniversary 78: A Sea Symphony 79: A London Symphony 81: A Pastoral Symphony 82: Flos Campi 83: Piano Concerto 84: Fourth Symphony 85: Five Tudor Portraits 86: Sixth Symphony 87: Folk Songs of the Four Seasons 88: Sinfonia Antartica 89: The Pilgrim's Progress 90: Tuba Concerto 91: Violin Sonata 92: Eighth Symphony 93: Ninth Symphony Section 6: Program Notes on the Music of Other Composers 94: Bach Cantatas 95: British Choral Music and Dvorák, Stabat Mater 96: Bach, St Matthew Passion 97: Dvorák, 'New World' Symphony 98: Elgar, Introduction and Allegro for String Orchestra 99: Gordon Jacob, Passacaglia on a Well-Known Theme 100: Weber, Overture Der Freisch:utz 101: Brahms, Choruses from the Requiem 102: George Dyson, The Canterbury Pilgrims Select Bibliography of Folk Song Collections Index

About the Author :
David Manning is a Teaching Fellow in Music at the University of Bristol.

Review :
"Vaughan Williams was a man of indefatigable energy and curiosity: a gracious, open-hearted spirit. All this and more emergest here."--Andrew Green, Classical Music "David Manning is to be commended for his tactful and thorough editing of this splendid collection of writings by the great British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. By assembling and organizing these essays, many of which are being reprinted for the first time since their initial publication, Manning has revealed the breadth and depth of Vaughan Williams's views on music, and thus has provided readers with a breathtaking panorama of a long and distinguished career. That Vaughan Williams was one of the towering composers of the twentieth century goes without saying, but this collection amply demonstrates that his social and aesthetic concerns were those of an intelligent, warmhearted, and sensible liberal humanist who possessed a lively and often felicitous prose style."--Byron Adams, University of California, Riverside "Vaughan Williams was a prolific and provocative writer of prose as well as music. This fascinating collection, ranging from the independent-minded responses of a young composer to Wagner and Brahms in the 1890s, to influential pronouncements on hot-button issues of the 1950s such as the fledgling BBC Third Programme, reveals the extraordinary range of his interests and sympathies, and the lifelong passion with which he threw himself into nurturing myriad different dimensions of his country's musical life."--Alain Frogley, University of Connecticut "Vaughan Williams was a prolific and provocative writer of prose as well as music. This fascinating collection, ranging from the independent-minded responses of a young composer to Wagner and Brahms in the 1890s, to influential pronouncements on hot-button issues of the 1950s such as the fledgling BBC Third Programme, reveals the extraordinary range of his interests and sympathies, and the lifelong passion with which he threw himself into nurturing myriad different dimensions of his country's musical life."--Alain Frogley, University of Connecticut "David Manning is to be commended for his tactful and thorough editing of this splendid collection of writings by the great British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. By assembling and organizing these essays, many of which are being reprinted for the first time since their initial publication, Manning has revealed the breadth and depth of Vaughan Williams's views on music, and thus has provided readers with a breathtaking panorama of a long and distinguished career. That Vaughan Williams was one of the towering composers of the twentieth century goes without saying, but this collection amply demonstrates that his social and aesthetic concerns were those of an intelligent, warmhearted, and sensible liberal humanist who possessed a lively and often felicitous prose style."--Byron Adams, University of California, Riverside