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Elijah Program 2006 Program Notes Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) When Whitman looked at nature, he was enjoined by his mentor, the composer found the reflection of human emotion. Hubert Parry, to “write choral music as And when he looked inside himself, he befits an Englishman and a democrat.” found the universe. For him, the soul was In the works of the great American poet sovereign, the sea, a representation both of democracy, Walt Whitman (1819–1892), of nature and humanity, and the sea-ship, Vaughan Williams found an important a vessel for the soul. inspiration for this lifelong project. Vaughan Williams needed Whitman’s A copy of LeavesofGrass given to him by self-assurance to embark on a work as Bertrand Russell, his friend and contem- ambitious as ASeaSymphony. In a laconic porary at Trinity College, Cambridge, program note to the symphony’s first traveled with the composer through the London performance, the composer 1890s, and opened new pathways for his described its development as follows: imagination. In words he repeated later in life to his own students, Whitman The first sketches for this work (namely, taught him to “know a better, fresher, parts of the Scherzo and slow move- busier sphere, a wide, untried domain ment) were made in 1903, and it was awaits, demands you”. In ASeaSymphony, gradually worked out during the next we hear the results of this youthful colli- seven years. It was first produced at the sion between Vaughan Williams and Leeds Festival in 1910, and has since Whitman—a “Big Bang” moment that been performed (in a slightly revised produced a thrilling result. form) at Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol. There are two main musical Walt Whitman did not work in small, themes which run through the four private gestures. Possibly the boldest of all movements: First, the harmonic pro- the Transcendentalist writers, his extrava- gression to which the opening words gant, burgeoning verse took in the parade for the chorus are sung. Second, a of America’s expansion, the excitement of melodic phrase first heard at the words its greatest city, and the tragedy of its Civil ‘and on its limitless heaving breast, War. He depicted New York as a sea of the ships’. The plan of the work is humanity, with Grace Church at the symphonic rather than narrative or corner of Tenth Street: dramatic, and this may be held to justify the frequent repetition of important so adroitly placed that its tall, tapering words and phrases which occur in the spire shows down the very center of poem. The words as well as the music the busiest three miles of Broadway, are thus treated symphonically. It is also like a ghostly lighthouse looming noticeable that the orchestra has an up over the porpoise-backs of the equal share with the chorus and soloists omnibuses, as they lift and dive in that in carrying out the musical ideas. unquiet sea, and over the tossing spray of ribbons and plumes that give back The composer’s understatement belies the rainbows to the eyes of him that gazes tremendous originality and difficulty of his on the living waves. task. Choral symphonies had been written before, but mostly involved the chorus in ship to the cosmos. The altos of the chorus bass among them—he both ensured an a “special guest star” role, usually in the sing a cradle-song that evokes the earlier audience and helped himself “keep the closing movement. Mahler’s Symphony image of the sea as “husky nurse;” we necessary proportion between the world of No. 8 (1907) was an exception, with a glimpse a haunting scrap of melody on facts and the world of dreams,” between double quartet of soloists shouldering the text “at night, alone” that returns, the erudition and metaphysical qualities of more of the burden. As Vaughan Williams more fully developed, in the final move- his masterpieces and the practical difficul- implied, ASeaSymphony is not an oratorio ment; a great choral outburst gives voice ties of their implementation. either, although the chorus is in on the to the poet’s epiphany, followed by an Those who have sung in choruses will have action from beginning to end. In writing extended orchestral postlude. experienced the sensation of becoming a the work, Vaughan Williams professed The Scherzo, “After the Sea-Ship,” is part of something greater than themselves. a debt to Edward Elgar, as can be heard pure, sparkly fun, depicting “living waves” In a program note for a 1951 performance especially in the opening of the fourth that follow a ship slicing through the of ASeaSymphony, Vaughan Williams wrote movement. French composers of the day, ocean. Shimmering orchestration and that “the philosophy of choral singing is in particular Ravel and Debussy, whose virtuosic choral writing are perfectly suited comprised in the mathematical formula symphonic poem LaMer (1903–1905) to this exuberant poem. The cantata- 2 + 2 = 40.” Drawing on an analogy to contains important parallels, also influ- length fourth movement bears Vaughan sport, “a good footballer requires to sink enced the work’s musical syntax. The pen- William’s own title, “The Explorers”. himself in the whole, to coordinate care- tatonic scale (D-E-F#-A-B) that spins Here, composer and the poet ponder fully with his opposite number, to desire throughout the entire symphony is charac- “the vast terraqueous globe, given, and not personal glory but the success of the teristic of Debussy. In its orchestration, the giving all”. In their skillful hands, Creation whole. So it is with a good choral singer. work bears the stamp of the composer’s both justifies, and is justified by, the sover- These qualities it is true refer more to the 1908 study with Ravel. Vaughan Williams eign soul, the “actual Me” who, having craftsman than the artist, but if craft with- wrote that Ravel taught him “how to “stood here like a tree in the ground long out art is dead, art without craft is impo- orchestrate in points of colour rather than enough,” is cut loose to explore beyond tent. The expert [the virtuoso performer] in lines.” Charles Villiers Stanford’s use the frontier of human understanding. is the foam on the top of the wave, but the of the sea-shanty in SongsoftheSea (1904)— force of the water must come from our originally Vaughan Williams’s own working No account of A Sea Symphony would be own effort.” title for ASeaSymphony—was perhaps complete without an appreciation of the another useful source. critical role of the choral singers who The force of the wave derives from the helped bring it about in the first place. audience as well as the chorus. Springing ASeaSymphony transcended its many influ- As an “Englishman and a democrat,” from its own community, a good chorus ences and emerged fully in the composer’s and through decades of work with English has a built in affinity with its listeners that own voice. In the first movement, Vaughan festival choirs, including the Leeds Festival allows a live performance to “produce an Williams and Whitman show us a sea surg- chorus who gave A Sea Symphony its pre- atmosphere of living art in which alone the ing with humanity, Man intertwined with miere, Vaughan Williams grasped the great leaders of music can survive. Flowers Nature, chosen and leveled by the sea, and potential of choral singing to build the cannot grow on a barren soil.” Poet, com- joined with the sea in life and in death. bonds of community. He delighted in poser, chorus, soloists, orchestra and The baritone and soprano soloists play working with enthusiastic, arts-minded audience are co-creators of this experience off the chorus, signaling important dra- men and women “whose voices were of living art. Vaughan Williams’s great song matic shifts in the poem and, ultimately, [often] not equal to their zeal,” and from of Sea and Soul and Self calls out to all of weaving in to the choral-orchestral texture them he drew major life lessons as well as us, as Whitman did to him, “a wide, as musical strands from the opening are astonishing results. In the words of one of untried domain, awaits, demands you!” gathered up towards a powerful conclu- his singers, “he draws out of you what you sion. “On the Beach at Night, Alone,” is a — John Maclay know isn’t there.” By cultivating his close nocturne for baritone soloist, chorus and and affectionate bond with the musical cit- orchestra, a reflection on Man’s relation- izenry—every last soprano, alto, tenor and (Ever the heroes, on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing, Texts Ever the stock preserv’d, and never lost, though rare—enough for seed preserv’d.) Flaunt out O sea, your separate flags of nations! Flaunt out, visible as ever, the various ship-signals! But do you reserve especially for yourself, and for the soul of man, one flag above SYMPHONY NO. 1, “A SEA SYMPHONY” (1910) Ralph Vaughan Williams all the rest, (1872–1958) A spiritual woven Signal, for all nations, emblem of man elate above death, Token of all brave captains, and all intrepid sailors and mates, All texts were selected by the composer from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and are printed here unabridged, with italics used to indicate passages omitted by the composer. For movement four, only And all that went down doing their duty; the relevant sections of “Passage to India” are reproduced. Reminiscent of them—twined from all intrepid captains, young or old; A pennant universal, subtly waving, all time, o’er all brave sailors, 1.
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