Sinfonia antartica

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Sinfonia antartica ("Antarctic Symphony") is the Italian title given by Ralph Vaughan Williams to his seventh symphony, first performed in 1953. It drew on incidental music the composer had written for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic .

Contents

Background and first performances

By the mid-1940s, Vaughan Williams had written five symphonies of widely varying characters, from the choral Sea Symphony (1909) [1] to the turbulent and discordant Fourth (1934) [2] and the serene Fifth (1943), which some took to be the septuagenarian composer's symphonic swan song. [3] In the event there were four more symphonies to come; his Sixth was premiered in 1948. [4] After completing it, Vaughan Williams undertook a substantial film score to accompany Scott of the Antarctic produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Charles Frend. [5] The composer became deeply interested in and moved by the story of the disastrous polar expedition of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions, and music suggested by ice and wind, penguins and whales came into his head. [6] Before even seeing the film script he had composed most of the score. [7] His biographer Michael Kennedy writes that the autograph full score contains 996 bars of music, of which about half was used in the finished film. [n 1]

While writing the film music, Vaughan Williams had begun to feel that it might later form the basis of a symphony. [9] He worked on that intermittently during the next few years, between other major compositions including his opera The Pilgrim's Progress . By early 1952 the symphony was complete. His musical assistant Roy Douglas played a piano arrangement to a group of musicians including Arthur Bliss, Gerald Finzi and Edward Dent; also in the group was Ernest Irving, who had commissioned the film score and to whom Vaughan Williams dedicated the new symphony. An orchestral score was sent to Sir John Barbirolli, who had secured the composer's agreement that he should conduct the premiere. The work was first given in public on 14 January 1953 at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, by Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra and Choir with Margaret Ritchie in the wordless soprano solo. [10] The performers repeated the performance at the same venue the following evening, and gave the London premiere at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 January. [11] The title of the symphony was changed at the last minute from Sinfonia Antarctica to Sinfonia Antartica, so as to use consistently Italian spelling in the two words. [11]

The first American performance was given on 2 April 1953 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelík. [12] The Australian premiere was given by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eugene Goossens on 17 June 1953. [13]

Score notes

The work is scored for a large orchestra including:

Mechanics of the composition

A typical performance lasts around 45 minutes. There are five movements. The composer specified that the third movement lead directly into the fourth. The score includes a brief literary quotation at the start of each movement. While Vaughan Williams did not say that these quotations were intended to form part of a performance of the work, they are sometimes declaimed in performance and in recordings. Among the recordings including the quotations are Sir Adrian Boult's first recording for Decca in 1954 (supervised by the composer) with Sir John Gielgud narrating, and André Previn's 1967 recording for RCA with Sir Ralph Richardson narrating. [14]

1. Prelude: Andante maestoso

To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite,
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night,
To defy power which seems omnipotent,
...
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent:
This ... is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free,
This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory.

quotation from Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
Sinfonia antartica

2. Scherzo: Moderato

There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein.

quotation from Psalm 104, Verse 26
Sinfonia antartica

3. Landscape: Lento

Ye ice falls! Ye that from the mountain's brow
Adown enormous ravines slope amain 
Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice,
And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge!
Motionless torrents! Silent cataracts!

quotation from Coleridge, Hymn before Sunrise, in the vale of Chamouni
Sinfonia antartica

4. Intermezzo: Andante sostenuto

Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

quotation from Donne, The Sun Rising
Sinfonia antartica

5. Epilogue: Alla marcia, moderato (non troppo allegro)

I do not regret this journey; we took risks, we knew we took them, things have come out against us, therefore we have no cause for complaint.

quotation from Captain Scott's Last Journal
Sinfonia antartica

Recordings

ConductorOrchestraChorusSoloistNarratorRecordedCat no
Sir John BarbirolliHallé OrchestraHallé ChoirMargaret RitchieFree Trade Hall, 15–16 June 1953HMV ALP 1102
Sir Adrian BoultLondon PhilharmonicLondon Philharmonic ChoirMargaret RitchieJohn GielgudKingsway Hall, 10–11 Dec 1953Decca LXT 2912
André PrevinLondon Symphony OrchestraAmbrosian SingersHeather HarperRalph RichardsonKingsway Hall, 14–16 Sept 1967RCA Victor SB 6736
Sir Adrian BoultLondon PhilharmonicLondon Philharmonic ChoirNorma BurrowesKingsway Hall, 18–21 Nov 1969HMV ASD 2631
Ainslee CoxAmerican Symphony OrchestraASO Women's ChorusJacqueline PierceFranklin WilliamsCarnegie Hall, 13 April 1970CRQ Editions CD 251
Bernard HaitinkLondon PhilharmonicLondon Philharmonic ChoirSheila ArmstrongRoyal Festival Hall, 27 Nov 1984LPO-0072
Bernard HaitinkLondon PhilharmonicLondon Philharmonic ChoirSheila ArmstrongAbbey Road, 28–29 Nov 1984EMI CDC 7 47516 2
Gennadi RozhdestvenskyUSSR State Symphony OrchestraChamber Choir of Moscow ConservatoryElena Dof-donskayaPhilharmonia Building, Leningrad, 28 April 1989Melodiya CD 10-02170-5
Bryden ThomsonLondon Symphony OrchestraLSO ChorusCatherine BottSt Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead, 19–22 June 1989Chandos CHAN 8796
Vernon HandleyRoyal Liverpool PhilharmonicLiverpool Philharmonic ChoirAlison HarganPhilharmonic Hall, Liverpool, April 1990EMI Eminence CD EMX 2173
Leonard SlatkinPhilharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia ChorusLinda HohenfeldAbbey Road, 28–29 Nov 1991RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-61195-2
Raymond LeppardIndianapolis Symphony OrchestraIndianapolis Symphonic ChoirDominique Labelle27–29 April 1992Koss Classics KC 2214
Andrew DavisBBC Symphony OrchestraBBC Symphony ChorusPatricia RozarioSt Augustine's Church, London, March 1996Teldec 0630-13139-2
Kees BakelsBournemouth Symphony OrchestraWaynflete SingersLynda RussellDavid TimsonPoole Arts Centre, 6–7 Sept 1996Naxos 8.550737
Sir Andrew DavisBergen PhilharmonicBergen Philharmonic Choir, Grieg KorMari EriksmoenGrieghallen, Bergen, 30 Jan to 2 Feb 2017Chandos CHSA 5186
Andrew ManzeRoyal Liverpool PhilharmonicLiverpool Philharmonic ChoirRowan PierceTimothy WestPhilharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 28 Sept 2018ONYX, ONYX4190
Sir Mark ElderHallé OrchestraHallé ChoirSophie BevanBridgewater Hall, Manchester, 24 January 2019, live and in rehearsalHallé CD HLD 7558

Notes, references and sources

Notes

  1. A suite arranged from the complete score premiered in 2002 plays for more than 40 minutes and consists of 18 sections. [8]

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References

  1. Howes, p. 3
  2. Howes, pp. 34–35
  3. Howes, p. 41
  4. Vaughan Williams, p. 283
  5. Vaughan Williams, p. 279
  6. Vaughan Williams, pp. 279–280
  7. Kennedy, p. 5
  8. Kennedy, p. 3
  9. Vaughan Williams, p. 286
  10. "A New Symphony", The Times, 15 January 1953, p. 3
  11. 1 2 "Vaughan Williams' 'Sinfonia Antartica': The First Performance", Illustrated London News, 24 January 1953, p. 131
  12. Cassidy, Claudia. "On the Aisle", Chicago Tribune, 3 April 1953, p. 2/1
  13. "'Antarctic' Symphony at Concert", Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1953, p. 2
  14. Stuart, Philip. Decca Classical 1929–2009. Retrieved 22 December 2021

Sources

Further reading