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UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title “Doing His Bit”: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Music for British Wartime Propaganda Films Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ft1h11j Author Howerton, Jaclyn Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE “Doing His Bit”: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Music for British Wartime Propaganda Films A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Jaclyn Howerton September 2019 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Byron Adams, Chairperson Dr. Walter Clark Dr. Rogerio Budasz Dr. Leonora Saavedra Copyright by Jaclyn Howerton 2019 The Dissertation of Jaclyn Howerton is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been completed without the generous help and support of: The University of California The University of California, Riverside Music Department and Media and Cultural Studies Department The British Library The British Film Institute The British National Archives and Public Records Office The Victoria and Albert Blythe House The John Rylands Library The Royal College of Music Library The Ralph Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust American Musicological Society Harold Powers World Travel Fund Grant Ernest Propes Endowed Graduate Fellowship from the University of California, Riverside Gluck Fellowship for the Arts Award from the University of California, Riverside Humanities Graduate Studies Research Fellowship from the University of California, Riverside Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Research Grant from the University of California, Riverside Hugh Cobbe OBE Dr. Joyce Kennedy Dr. Byron Adams Dr. Water Clark Dr. Rogerio Budasz Dr. Leonora Saavedra Dr. Daniel Goldmark Eva Hornstein iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “Doing His Bit”: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Music for British Wartime Propaganda Films by Jaclyn Howerton Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Music University of California, Riverside, September 2019 Dr. Byron Adams, Chairperson Ralph Vaughan Williams espoused a practical aesthetic, as he believed that composers must first address national concerns. Too old to serve in the Armed Forces during the Second World War, Vaughan Williams was determined to serve his nation in its fight against fascism. Anxious for war work, he mentioned to Arthur Benjamin that he was willing to compose for films. Benjamin contacted Muir Mathieson, the musical director of the wartime Ministry of Information, who quickly offers Vaughan Williams the opportunity to score the 1941 Michael Powell film; 49th Parallel. The film was a success and Vaughan Williams was fascinated by the new propaganda opportunities provided by scoring film music. This dissertation examines in detail the film music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, especially in regard to its role as a propaganda tool used to support national morale during the Second World War. This research explores the role that Vaughan Williams’s nationalistic style of music played within the first three propaganda films v that Vaughan Williams scored—49th Parallel (1941), Coastal Command (1942), and Flemish Farm (1943)—as well as their place within the war effort as an extension of the stereotype of the soft-spoken, resilient Briton. Despite Vaughan Williams’s firm place in the history and repertory of twentieth-century British composers alongside Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst, little research has been conducted on his film scores. In addition to analyzing the surviving original scores for each of these films, this study investigates some potential explanation for Vaughan William’s late entrance into film composition. This includes a brief analysis of the composer’s humanitarian efforts throughout the war, his involvement with the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), and his efforts on behalf of both European and Jewish immigrants. Although film music has often been relegated to a second-class status art-form, this research further traces the melodic themes that Vaughan Williams had not only written for each film, but also reused later in the “high-art” realm of the British concert hall. vi Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 – Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Humanitarian Work and Association with CEMA ......................................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2 - The Production and Reception of 49th Parallel ................................................................................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3 - The Surviving Film Scores from 49th Parallel ................................................................................................................................................................... 95 Chapter 4 – The Production and Reception of Coastal Command........................................................................................................................................... 133 Chapter 5 – The Surviving Scores and Musical Analysis of Coastal Command........................................................................................................................................... 162 Chapter 6 – The Production and Reception of The Flemish Farm ................................................................................................................................................................. 195 Chapter 7 – The Surviving Scores of The Flemish Farm ................................................................................................................................................................. 213 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 247 Dissertation Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 251 vii List of Music Examples Chapter 3 Ex. 1.1 Excerpt from “Over Ontario” composition draft from M.S. 50422A............................................................................................................................................ 97 Ex. 1.2 Excerpt from “Ottawa” composition draft from M.S. 50422C ................. 99 Ex. 1.3 Excerpt from composition draft from M.S. 50422C quoting “Ein feste Burg” by Martin Luther............................................................................................................................... 101 Ex. 1.4 Soprano part from Anna’s Volkslied in the score book M.S. 50422D… 103 Ex. 1.5a Opening measures of “Scene 15” from M.S. 50422E ................................. 105 Ex. 1.5b Measures 9-18 of Vaughan Williams’s The Lake in the Mountains for solo piano................................................................................................................................................. 106 Ex. 1.6 “View of Countryside” oboe solo from M.S. 50422F .................................... 107 Ex. 1.7a The Nazi-pursuit motif from M.S. 50422H that is recycled into the String Quartet in A Minor..................................................................................................................... 110 Ex. 1.7b Opening measures of the scherzo from Vaughan Williams’s String Quartet in A Minor........................................................................................................................................... 110 Ex. 1.8 Excerpt of brass parts from 1M2B composition score from M.S. 50423A featuring “O Canada” ............................................................................................................... 114 Ex. 1.9 Excerpt of trombone and violin parts from cue 1M2D from M.S. 50423A featuring “Ein feste Burg” ...................................................................................................... 115 viii Ex. 1.10 Excerpt of piccolo, oboe, and bassoon parts from cue 2M3 from M.S. 50423A featuring “Alouette”......................................................................................................................... 119 Ex. 1.11 Bassoon solo from cue entitled “Nazi March” from M.S. 50423A .............. 122 Chapter 5 Ex. 2.1a Movement one of Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony at Rehearsal Six ................................................................................................................................................................... 170 Ex. 2.1b Violin parts from “U-boat Alert” in Coastal Command .................................... 171 Ex. 2.2 Movement one of Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony at Rehearsal Eight........................................................................................................................................................ 173 Ex. 2.3a Movement one of Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony at Rehearsal Fifteen.................................................................................................................................................... 174 Ex. 2.3b Violin and oboe parts from “Hudsons take-off from Iceland” in Coastal Command.............................................................................................................................................