Symphony No. 9 (Vaughan Williams)

Last updated

Vaughan Williams in 1955 Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1954.jpg
Vaughan Williams in 1955

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor was the last symphony written by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. He composed it during 1956 and 1957, and it was given its premiere performance in London by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent on 2 April 1958, in the composer's eighty-sixth year. The work was received respectfully but, at first, without great enthusiasm. Its reputation has subsequently grown, and the symphony has entered the repertoire, in the concert hall and on record, with the majority of recordings from the 1990s and the 21st century.

Contents

In his early sketches for the symphony, Vaughan Williams made explicit reference to characters and scenes in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles . By the time the symphony was complete he had deleted the programmatic details, but musical analysts have found many points in which the work nonetheless evokes the novel.

Background and first performances

By the mid-1950s Vaughan Williams, in his eighties, was regarded as the Grand Old Man of English music, greatly as he disliked the term. [1] Between 1910 and 1955 he had composed eight symphonies, and early in 1956, before the premiere of the Eighth, he began to think about and make sketches for a ninth. [2]

During the early stages of the composition of the symphony, Vaughan Williams conceived first a musical depiction of Salisbury, the Plain and Stonehenge [3] and then an evocation of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles , set in the same surroundings. The programmatic elements disappeared as work progressed. [4] Existing sketches show that in the early stages of composition certain passages related to specific people and events in the novel: in some of the manuscripts the first movement is headed "Wessex Prelude" and the heading "Tess" appears above sketches for the second movement. [4] By the time the work was complete, the composer was at pains to characterise it as absolute music:

The second movement, Andante Sostenuto, seems to have no logical connection between its various themes. This has led some people to think that it must have a programme since apparently programme music need not be logical. It is quite true that the movement started off with a programme, but it got lost on the journey – so now, oh no, we never mention it – and the music must be left to speak for itself – whatever that may mean. [5]

The work was commissioned by and dedicated to the Royal Philharmonic Society. It was complete by November 1957 when a piano arrangement was played to a group of the composer's friends, including the composers Arthur Bliss and Herbert Howells and the critic Frank Howes. [6] A fortnight before the premiere, Vaughan Williams arranged (and paid for) a three-hour rehearsal at which the symphony was played through twice; after hearing the piece he made some minor adjustments in preparation for the premiere. [7] [8]

Sir Malcolm Sargent conducted the first public performance at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 2 April 1958, the central item in the programme, between Kodály's Concerto for Orchestra and Berlioz's Harold in Italy . [9] He again conducted the symphony on 5 August 1958 at a broadcast BBC Proms concert. [10] The work received its North American premiere on 10 August, conducted by William Steinberg at the Vancouver International Festival. [11] Leopold Stokowski conducted the US premiere at Carnegie Hall, New York, on 25 September, [12] and Sir John Barbirolli conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in the work in December of that year. [13]

Music

The orchestral forces required are:

The symphony is in four movements. Timings in performance vary considerably: at the premiere Sargent and the Royal Philharmonic took 30m 25s, which is nearer than most subsequent performances on record to the composer's metronome markings, but is felt by some critics to be too fast in places. [14] [n 1] In preparation for the first commercial recording of the work in August 1958, Sir Adrian Boult discussed the ending of the last movement with Vaughan Williams, which he felt was too abrupt. Vaughan Williams suggested that he could play that section "a good deal slower" if he wished while he considered Boult's suggestion that he add 20 or 30 measures. [19] [8] : 44m 30s  [20] Timings of studio recordings of the work have ranged from 29m 45s (Kees Bakels, 1996) to 40m 43 (Andrew Manze, 2018), with 34 minutes or so a more typical duration. [21]

1. Moderato maestoso

In the composer's published analysis the Moderato first movement is described as not in strict sonata form but obeying the general principles of statement, contrast and repetition. [22] The symphony opens in E minor, in 4
4 time, with a held unison E in four octaves, followed by a slow theme for low brasses and winds over the sustained E. [n 2] This leads to the first solo entrance of the three saxophones in a solemn theme in triads over a quiet E minor chord. The clarinets, accompanied by harp chords, introduce a gentler theme in G minor that elides into the G major that conventional sonata form would suggest. This returns in fuller form later in the movement, forming the recapitulation section, and now played by a solo violin, before the movement returns to the opening theme and ends with a saxophone cadence (à la Napolitaine, in the composer's phrase). [24]

2. Andante sostenuto

The slow movement, marked Andante sostenuto, opens in G minor, 4
4 time, with a theme for the solo flügelhorn. According to the musicologist Alain Frogley and others, the composer's original programmatic conceptions are essentially unaltered in the score despite his deletion of the labelling of themes, and in the opening it is possible to hear the sound of the wind blowing through Stonehenge. [25] [26] [27] Later in the movement the music evokes Tess, the pursuing constabulary, her arrest and the bell striking eight before her hanging. [27] [28] Vaughan Williams, avoiding mention of the original programme, describes the flügelhorn theme as "borrowed from an early work of the composer's, luckily long since scrapped, but changed so that its own father would hardly recognize it". [n 3] He continues:

The episode which follows is a strong contrast; a barbaric march theme, against which there is a counter-theme. A sudden modulation to B-flat minor brings back a version of [the flügelhorn theme] followed by a romantic episode in triple time, played chiefly by the strings. ... Then a menacing stroke on the gong brings back a memory of [the flügelhorn theme] ... Then a quick crescendo leads to a restatement of [the march] played by the full force of the orchestra, which dies down again to softness, and the flügel horn and its tune are once more heard, this time with a counter subject below it on the clarinet. [30]

The movement closes on a pianissimo chord of C major sustained across four bars. [31]

3. Scherzo

The scherzo third movement is marked Allegro pesante, and moves between 6
8 and 2
4 time. After an opening fortissimo brass discord, accompanied by a rhythmic pattern on the side drum, the saxophones play the first main theme, which is followed by a second theme, in 2
4, and, reverting to 6
8, a third. A subsidiary theme is developed in canon. The music is interrupted by a repetition of the opening dissonance, out of which the solo B♭ saxophone and the side drum bring the movement to a quiet end. [32]

4. Finale

The last movement, marked Andante tranquillo, is in two distinct sections, the first in repeated binary form and the second a sonata allegro with coda. [33] The first section begins with a long cantilena on the violins and then the violas, with clarinet counterpoint. The second theme, for horns, is followed by a repetition of both themes, before a short phrase that occurs throughout the movement introduces the second section, a viola theme, soft at first and becoming louder and contrapuntal, for full orchestra before ending on an E major triad, fortissimo but fading away to silence. [34]

Critical reception

According to Vaughan Williams's biographer Michael Kennedy, after the first performances, "there was no denying the coolness of the critics' reception of the music. Its enigmatic mood puzzled them, and more attention was therefore paid to the use of the flügel horn and to the flippant programme note." [35] The flügelhorn player at the premiere remarked that all the press coverage was about the instrument, to the detriment of serious discussion of the symphony as a work. [36] An example of what Kennedy describes as the composer's flippancy in his programme note concerns the instrumentation:

The usual symphony orchestra is used, with the addition of three saxophones and flügel horn. This beautiful and neglected instrument is not usually allowed in the select circles of the orchestra and has been banished to the brass band, where it is allowed to indulge in the bad habit of vibrato to its heart's content. While in the orchestra it will be obliged to sit up and play straight. The saxophones, also, are not expected, except possibly in one place in the scherzo, to behave like demented cats, but are allowed to be their own romantic selves. [22]

In the American journal Notes , R. Murray Schafer commented that although most libraries would wish to acquire the score because of Vaughan Williams's reputation as a symphonist, "I find it difficult...to discover much more than a numerical value in the work". He complained about the saxophones and flügelhorn: "all this extra color seems to be employed simply in thickening the middle-orchestra texture. ... The formal mastery is still present, but I don't think it saves the work." [37] Other critics in America were more impressed. In the Musical Courier , Gideon Waldrop described the symphony as "a work of beauty ... lyricism, sheer tonal beauty and thorough craftsmanship were in evidence throughout" and in The New York Times , Harold C. Schonberg wrote that "the symphony is packed with strong personal melody from beginning to end ... A mellow glow suffuses the work, as it does the work of many veteran composers who seem to gaze retrospectively over their careers ... the Ninth Symphony is a masterpiece". [12]

In the decades following his death, the music of Vaughan Williams was to a considerable extent ignored by musical academics and critics, although not by the public: his music remained popular in the concert hall and on record. [38] [39] In the mid-1990s the critical and musicological tide turned in his favour. [40] So far as the Ninth Symphony was concerned, the earlier view that it said nothing new began to be supplanted by the recognition that although it was, as The Times put it in 2008, "the synthesis and summation of all that had gone before", the music was visionary, violent, elusive and ambiguous. [41] In 2011, in a note for the San Francisco Symphony, Larry Rothe wrote, "Like Beethoven's final symphony, this one portrays huge conflicts and superhuman striving. Then, in its midst, a light-drenched seascape unfolds, but the vision retreats as suddenly as it appeared. Vaughan Williams had not composed music so angry and assertive since his Sixth Symphony". [42] Frogley and others believe that the work became better understood once the programmatic element became widely known. [19] [43]

Recordings

YearOrchestraConductorLocationRef
1958 Royal Philharmonic Sir Malcolm Sargent Royal Festival Hall, London [44]
1958 London Philharmonic Sir Adrian Boult Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London [45]
1958unnamed Leopold Stokowski Carnegie Hall, New York [46]
1958Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Portugal Pedro de Freitas Branco Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, [47]
1969London PhilharmonicSir Adrian Boult Kingsway Hall, London [48]
1971 London Symphony André Previn Kingsway Hall [49]
1989 USSR State Symphony Gennady Rozhdestvensky Philharmonia Building, Leningrad [50]
1990London Symphony Bryden Thomson St Jude's Church, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London [51]
1991 Philharmonia Leonard Slatkin EMI Abbey Road Studios, London [52]
1994 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Vernon Handley Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool [53]
1995 BBC Symphony Andrew Davis St Augustine's, Kilburn, London [54]
1996 Bournemouth Symphony Kees Bakels Arts Centre, Poole [55]
2000London Philharmonic Bernard Haitink Abbey Road [56]
2008BBC SymphonySir Andrew Davis Royal Albert Hall, London [57]
2016 Bergen Philharmonic Sir Andrew Davis Grieg Hall, Bergen [58]
2018Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Andrew Manze Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool [59]
2021 The Hallé Sir Mark Elder Hallé St Peter's, Manchester [60]

Notes, references and sources

Notes

  1. ↑ Vaughan Williams's metronome markings for his scores have been called into question. [15] [16] He did not observe them himself when conducting his works, and was present at recordings by Boyd Neel and Sir Adrian Boult where he did not object to slower tempi than marked. [17] Vaughan Williams's musical assistant Roy Douglas, who greatly disliked Sargent's brisk tempi, [14] speculated that Vaughan Williams simply miscalculated because he did not possess a metronome. [18]
  2. ↑ Vaughan Williams said that the theme had come to him after playing the organ part at the beginning of Bach's St Matthew Passion . [23]
  3. ↑ A reference to The Solent (a work for chamber orchestra, composed 1902–03), according to a footnote. [29]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Planets</i> Orchestral suite by Gustav Holst

The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its supposed astrological character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Vaughan Williams</span> English composer (1872–1958)

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Boult</span> English conductor

Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote his Symphony No. 5 in D major between 1938 and 1943. In style it represents a shift away from the violent dissonance of his Fourth Symphony, and a return to the gentler style of the earlier Pastoral Symphony.

<i>Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis</i> 1910 composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, also known as the Tallis Fantasia, is a one-movement work for string orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The theme is by the 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis. The Fantasia was first performed at Gloucester Cathedral as part of the 1910 Three Choirs Festival, and has entered the orchestral repertoire, with frequent concert performances and recordings by conductors and orchestras of various countries.

<i>A Sea Symphony</i> Symphony composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams

A Sea Symphony is an hour-long work for soprano, baritone, chorus and large orchestra written by Ralph Vaughan Williams between 1903 and 1909. The first and longest of his nine symphonies, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910 with the composer conducting, and its maturity belies the relatively young age – 30 – when he began sketching it. Moreover, it is one of the first symphonies in which a chorus is used throughout as an integral part of the texture and it helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. It was never numbered.

Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to Arnold Bax.

A London Symphony is the second symphony that Ralph Vaughan Williams composed. The work is sometimes referred to as Symphony No. 2, though the composer did not designate that name for the work. First performed in 1914, the original score of this four-movement symphony was lost and subsequently reconstructed. Vaughan Williams continued revisions of the work into its final definitive form, which was published in 1936.

Sinfonia antartica 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.

English Folk Song Suite is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for the military band as Folk Song Suite and its premiere was given at Kneller Hall on 4 July 1923, conducted by Lt Hector Adkins. The piece was then arranged for full orchestra in 1924 by Vaughan Williams' student Gordon Jacob and published as English Folk Song Suite. The piece was later arranged for British-style brass band in 1956 by Frank Wright and published as English Folk Songs Suite. All three versions were published by Boosey & Hawkes; note the use of three different titles for the three different versions. The suite uses the melodies of nine English folk songs, six of which were drawn from the collection made by Vaughan Williams’ friend and colleague Cecil Sharp.

Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 3, published as A Pastoral Symphony and not numbered until later, was completed in 1922. Vaughan Williams's initial inspiration to write this symphony came during World War I after hearing a bugler practising and accidentally playing an interval of a seventh instead of an octave; this ultimately led to the trumpet cadenza in the second movement.

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed his Symphony in E minor, published as Symphony No. 6, in 1944–47, during and immediately after World War II and revised in 1950. Dedicated to Michael Mullinar, it was first performed, in its original version, by Sir Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 21 April 1948. Within a year it had received some 100 performances, including the U.S. premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky on 7 August 1948. Leopold Stokowski gave the first New York performances the following January with the New York Philharmonic and immediately recorded it, declaring that "this is music that will take its place with the greatest creations of the masters." However, Vaughan Williams, very nervous about this symphony, threatened several times to tear up the draft. At the same time, his programme note for the first performance took a defiantly flippant tone.

<i>In the Fen Country</i>

In the Fen Country is an orchestral tone poem written by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams had completed the first version of the work in April 1904. He subsequently revised the work in 1905 and 1907. It is Vaughan Williams' earliest composition not to be withdrawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams)</span> Symphony in four movements composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. Sir John Barbirolli, its dedicatee, conducted the Hallé Orchestra in the premiere at the Kings Hall in Manchester, on 2 May 1956. It is the shortest of the composer's nine symphonies, and is mostly buoyant and optimistic in tone.

<i>Job: A Masque for Dancing</i>

Job: A Masque for Dancing is a one-act ballet produced in 1931. The scenario is by Geoffrey Keynes, the choreography by Ninette de Valois, and the music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The ballet is based on the Book of Job from the Hebrew Bible and was inspired by the illustrated edition by William Blake. The music was first given in concert in 1930 and the ballet had its stage premiere on 5 July 1931. It was the first ballet to be produced by an entirely British creative team. It was taken into the repertoire of the Vic-Wells Ballet and its successors, and has been intermittently revived.

Concerto Grosso is a work for string orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Originally composed in 1950 for a performance by the Rural Schools Music Association conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, the piece is unique in that the orchestra is split into three sections based on skill: Concertino (Advanced), Tutti (Intermediate), and Ad Lib (Novice) which only plays open strings. The piece is in five movements, and performances generally run for 14 minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Douglas</span> Musical artist

Richard Roy Douglas was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Richard Addinsell, made well-known orchestrations of works such as Les Sylphides and Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto, and wrote a quantity of original music.

This is a summary of 1948 in music in the United Kingdom.

<i>The Lark Ascending</i> (Vaughan Williams) Musical composition by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Lark Ascending is a short, single-movement work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by the 1881 poem of the same name by the English writer George Meredith. It was originally for violin and piano, completed in 1914, but not performed until 1920. The composer reworked it for solo violin and orchestra after the First World War. This version, in which the work is chiefly known, was first performed in 1921. It is subtitled "A Romance", a term that Vaughan Williams favoured for contemplative slow music.

This is a list of events from British radio in 1948.

References

  1. ↑ Pople, p. 50; and Kennedy (2013), pp. 284 and 299
  2. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 369
  3. ↑ Kennedy (1980), p. 369
  4. 1 2 Frogley (1987), pp. 49–50, 57
  5. ↑ Vaughan Williams, Ralph. Programme note for the premiere of the symphony, quoted in Frogley (1987), p. 44
  6. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 385
  7. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 390; and Kennedy (1980), p. 342
  8. 1 2 Swain, Jonathan. "Vaughan Williams 9th Symphony", Record Review , BBC Three, 8 February 2014. Event occurs at 47m 37s.
  9. ↑ "Philharmonic Concert", The Times , 3 April 1958, p. 3
  10. ↑ "Henry Wood Promenade Concert", Radio Times 1 August 1958, p. 31
  11. ↑ "Two Musical Works Get Premieres at Vancouver", Saskatoon Star-Phoenix , 13 August 1958, p. 4
  12. 1 2 Schonberg, Harold C. "A Vaughan Williams Premiere; Stokowski Leads Ninth Symphony in U.S. Bow", The New York Times , 26 September 1958, p. 22
  13. ↑ Schloss, Edwin R. "Orchestra Season Reviewed", The Philadelphia Inquirer , 26 April 1959, p. 85
  14. 1 2 Barber, Robin. "Malcolm Sargent, Vaughan Williams and the Ninth Symphony", Journal of the RVW Society, No. 24, June 2002, p. 9
  15. ↑ Adams, Byron. "The stages of revision of Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony", The Musical Quarterly , Fall 1989 JSTOR   741883 (subscription required)
  16. ↑ Atlas (2010), pp. 24–25[ incomplete short citation ]
  17. ↑ Culshaw, p. 121; Boult, Sir Adrian "Vaughan Williams and his Interpreters", The Musical Times , October 1972, pp. 957–958 JSTOR   955234 (subscription required); and notes to Somm CD SOMMCD 071 (2007) and Decca CD 00028947860464 (2013)
  18. ↑ Douglas, p. 66
  19. 1 2 Frogley (2001), p. 21
  20. ↑ Rothwell, Barbara Yates, ed. (1971). "Sir Adrian Boult talks about Ralph Vaughan Williams". Ralph Vaughan Williams O.M., 1872–1958. Dorking, UK: Ralph Vaughan Williams Centenary Committee. pp. 21–22.
  21. ↑ Barber, Robin. "Symphony No. 9 – A Comparative CD Review", Journal of the RVW Society, No. 39, June 2007, p. 11
  22. 1 2 Manning, p. 391
  23. ↑ Manning, p. 392
  24. ↑ Manning pp. 392–393
  25. ↑ Frogley, pp. 50–51
  26. ↑ Anderson, Keith (1998). Notes to Naxos CD 8.550738
  27. 1 2 Horton, pp. 224–225
  28. ↑ Frogley, pp. 54–57
  29. ↑ Manning, pp. 393–394
  30. ↑ Manning, pp. 394–395
  31. ↑ Schwartz, p. 156
  32. ↑ Schwartz, p. 159
  33. ↑ Schwartz, pp. 159–160
  34. ↑ Schwartz, pp. 160–164
  35. ↑ Kennedy (1980), pp. 342–343
  36. ↑ McAneney, Anne. "David Mason", The Brass Herald, issue 18, May–July 2007, p. 38. ISSN   1746-1472
  37. ↑ Schafer, R. Murray, "Review", Notes , second series, vol. 17, no. 1 (December 1959), pp. 150–151 doi : 10.2307/893900 (subscription required)
  38. ↑ Frogley (2001), p. 15
  39. ↑ Kennedy (2013), p. 296
  40. ↑ Frogley and Thompson, pp. 1–2
  41. ↑ Finch, Hilary, "Proms", The Times , 28 August 2008, p. 91
  42. ↑ Rothe, Larry (2011). "The Vaughan Williams Brand" Archived 23 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine , San Francisco Symphony. Retrieved 30 December 2020
  43. ↑ Barr, John. "Vaughan Williams discarded programme in his Ninth Symphony", Journal of the RVW Society, No. 24, June 2002, p. 9
  44. ↑ Pristine Audio XR PASC 234
  45. ↑ Everest SDBR 3006
  46. ↑ Cala Records CACD 0539
  47. ↑ Portugalsom SP 4084
  48. ↑ HMV ASD 2581
  49. ↑ RCA Red Seal SB 6842
  50. ↑ Melodiya CD 10-02170-6
  51. ↑ Chandos CHAN 8941
  52. ↑ RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-61196-2
  53. ↑ EMI Eminence CD EMX 2230
  54. ↑ Teldec 4509-98463-2
  55. ↑ Naxos 8.550738
  56. ↑ EMI CD 5 57086 2
  57. ↑ BBC Music Magazine MM 333
  58. ↑ Chandos CHSA 5180
  59. ↑ ONYX ONYX4190
  60. ↑ Hallé HLD 7558

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.