National Music and Other Essays

by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ursula Vaughan Williams, Williams Vaughan

Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the greatest English composers, held strong views on many musical subjects which he did not hesitate to express in plain, vigorous prose. National Music and Other Essays contains, in book form, all Vaughan Williams's writings that he thought worth preserving,
including essays on the theme of nationalism in music, the evolution of the folk song, and the origins of music, as well as pieces on individual composers and their works, such as Beethoven, Holst, Bach, Sibelius, Bax, and Elgar. Throughout, his common sense combines with a true composer's
sensitivity to produce writings of an enduring interest and originality. For this edition, Michael Kennedy has written a new introduction and has added various essays on a wide variety of subjects.

Genres: Music

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Ralph Vaughan Williams OM 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.

Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social outlook. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Teutonic influences.

Vaughan Williams is among the best-known English symphonists, noted for his very wide range of moods, from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. Among the most familiar of his other concert works are Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His vocal works include hymns, folk-song arrangements and large-scale choral pieces. He wrote eight works for stage performance between 1919 and 1951. Although none of his operas became popular repertoire pieces, his ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) was successful and has been frequently staged.