Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams An icon of British national identity and one of the most widely performed twentieth-century composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams has been as much misunderstood as revered; his international impact, and enduring influence on areas as diverse as church music, film scores and popular music, have been insufficiently appreciated. This volume brings together a team of leading scholars, examining all areas of the composer’s output from new perspectives, and re-evaluating the cultural politics of his lifelong advocacy for the music-making of ordinary people. Surveys of major genres are complemented by chapters exploring such topics as the composer’s relationship with the BBC, and his studies with Ravel; uniquely, the book also includes specially commissioned interviews with major living composers Peter Maxwell Davies, Piers Hellawell, Nicola LeFanu and Anthony Payne. The Companion is a vital resource for all those interested in this pivotal figure of modern music. alain frogley has taught at Oxford and Lancaster universities, and since 1994 at the University of Connecticut; in 2008 he was Visiting Professor at Yale. In 2005–6 he was a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. He is the editor of Vaughan Williams Studies (1996) and the author of Vaughan Williams’sNinthSymphony(2001); he has also contributed to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. aidan j. thomson taught at the universities of Oxford and Leeds before being appointed Lecturer in Music at Queen’s University Belfast in 2003. His publications include articles and book chapters on Elgar (in 19th-Century Music, The Cambridge Companion to Elgar, Edward Elgar and His World, Elgar Studies and The Musical Quarterly), Ethel Smyth and Arnold Bax. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to VAUGHAN WILLIAMS ............................ EDITED BY Alain Frogley University of Connecticut and Aidan J. Thomson Queen’s University Belfast © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521162906 © Cambridge University Press 2013 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2013 Reprinted 2014 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The Cambridge companion to Vaughan Williams / edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-521-16290-6 1. Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872–1958. 2. Composers – England – Biogaphy. 3. Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872–1958 – Criticism and interpretation. 4. Music – England – 20th century – History and criticism. I. Frogley, Alain. II. Thomson, Aidan J., 1975– ML410.V3C36 2013 780.92–dc23 [B] 2013016199 ISBN 978-0-521-19768-7 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-16290-6 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information In memory of Ursula Vaughan Williams (1911–2007) and Richard Hickox (1948–2008) © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information Contents List of tables [page ix] Notes on the contributors [x] Acknowledgements [xiii] List of abbreviations [xvi] Chronology [xvii] Introduction [1] Alain Frogley & Aidan J. Thomson Part I ‘Who wants the English composer?’: forging a path, 1890–1925 [7] 1 The composer and society: family, politics, nation [9] Julian Onderdonk 2 Vaughan Williams’s musical apprenticeship [29] Byron Adams 3 Becoming a national composer: critical reception to c. 1925 [56] Aidan J. Thomson Part II Works by genre [79] 4 History and geography: the early orchestral works and the first three symphonies [81] Alain Frogley 5 The songs and shorter secular choral works [106] Sophie Fuller 6 ‘An Englishman and a democrat’: Vaughan Williams, large choral works, and the British festival tradition [121] Charles Edward McGuire 7 Folksong arrangements, hymn tunes and church music [136] Julian Onderdonk 8 Music for stage and film [157] Eric Saylor 9 Chamber music and works for soloist with orchestra [179] Christopher Mark [vii] © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information viii Contents 10 The later symphonies [199] Julian Horton Part III Activism, reception and influence [229] 11 The public figure: Vaughan Williams as writer and activist [231] David Manning 12 Vaughan Williams, Boult, and the BBC [249] Jenny Doctor 13 Fluctuations in the response to the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams [275] Michael Kennedy 14 Vaughan Williams and his successors: composers’ forum [299] Peter Maxwell Davies, Piers Hellawell, Nicola LeFanu and Anthony Payne in conversation with Aidan J. Thomson Select bibliography [321] Index of Vaughan Williams’s works [326] General index [330] © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information Tables 4.1 Vaughan Williams’s orchestral works to 1925 [page 82] 6.1 Music by Vaughan Williams at major British choral festivals: 1906–14 [123] 6.2 Music by Vaughan Williams at major British choral festivals: 1920–38 [126] 6.3 Music by Vaughan Williams at major British choral festivals: 1946–58 [132] 9.1 Formal summary of The Lark Ascending [186] 9.2 Formal summary of Oboe Concerto, first movement [192] 10.1 Symphony No. 4, fourth movement, fugal epilogue [204] [ix] © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-19768-7 - The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams Edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson Frontmatter More information Contributors Byron Adams is Professor of Musicology at the University of California, Riverside. An accomplished composer, his music has been performed throughout North America and Europe. He has published widely on the subject of English music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; he is co-editor of Vaughan Williams Essays (2003), and a contributor to the revised edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. In 2000, the American Musicological Society bestowed upon him the Philip Brett Award for his scholarly work on the intersections of gender and nationalism in British music. In 2007, Adams was scholar-in-residence for the Bard Music Festival, ‘Elgar and His World’, and was editor of the book connected to the festival, Edward Elgar and His World. Jenny Doctor was awarded a Fulbright Grant to the UK in 1989 and remained there for over twenty-two years. Whenever time permitted, she rummaged around the BBC archives, leading to The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936 (Cambridge, 1999). With Nicholas Kenyon and David Wright, she co-edited The Proms: A Social History (2007), and with Sophie Fuller she is editing letters exchanged by composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams. As Director of the Belfer Audio Archive and Associate Professor at Syracuse University, Jenny’s current research focuses on British music history, sound recording archives and music on American radio. Alain Frogley has taught at Oxford and Lancaster universities, and since 1994 at the University of Connecticut; in 2008 he was Visiting Professor at Yale. In 2005–6he was a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies. A specialist in the music of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly that of Britain and America, he has also worked extensively on Beethoven. His research has centred on sketch studies, reception history and musical nationalism; his most recent work explores music and the modern city. Frogley is the editor of Vaughan Williams Studies (Cambridge, 1996) and the author of Vaughan Williams’s Ninth Symphony (2001); he has also contributed to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.