Today marks the 150th birthday of one of England's most revered composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Here's a look back at his enduring legacy.
ullstein bild Dtl./Getty Images, who is also widely beloved beyond Britain. A folksong expert who logged long trips collecting traditional tunes all over the British Isles, Vaughan Williams famously produced gently modal folksong fantasies evoking England's"green and pleasant land." He also became a go-to composer for major occasions of church and state, called on to reflect and amplify national feeling.
This year, his sesquicentennial, celebrations of the English master have been surprisingly muted, even in his homeland – a boost in Vaughan Williams programming last summer at the BBC's Promenade concerts was the rare exception.
For everyone, 2022 has been difficult. Uncertainties abound, and Britain has been hit especially hard. The cost of living has surged, while the value of the pound has plummeted. The COVID pandemic stubbornly persists; war in Europe seems uncomfortably near. Political life in the post-Brexit climate is polarized and unpleasant – and the one unifying figure tying British citizens to one another and to their shared past has gone to greater glory after 70 years on the throne.
His sesquicentennial offers the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with an underestimated master. Below, I offer some suggestions to begin a"revisiting Vaughan Williams" journey. The opening bars of this song cycle set the inexorable pace of a wanderer's trek; you can easily imagine a young Vaughan Williams tramping through the countryside in search of traditional tunes and, in fact, these songs coincide with his first forays into folksong collection.
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