Symphony No. 5 (Vaughan Williams)

alt=Smartly dressed European man looking towards camera|thumb|Vaughan Williams in 1922

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote his Symphony No. 5 in D major between 1938 and 1943. In style it represents a shift away from the violent dissonance of his Fourth Symphony, and a return to the gentler style of the earlier Pastoral Symphony.

Many of the musical themes in the Fifth Symphony stem from Vaughan Williams's then-unfinished operatic work, The Pilgrim's Progress. This opera, or "morality" as Vaughan Williams preferred to call it, had been in gestation for decades, and the composer had temporarily abandoned it at the time the symphony was conceived. Despite its origins, the symphony is without programmatic content.

The work was an immediate success at its premiere in 1943, and is frequently performed in concert and on record.

History

Background

In 1935 Vaughan Williams had caused surprise and even shock with his Fourth Symphony, a strident and dissonant piece in great contrast with its quiet and contemplative predecessor, A Pastoral Symphony (1922). After this he experienced a temporary writer's block, before he began writing his Fifth Symphony in 1938. He had been working intermittently for more than thirty years on what became his opera (or "Morality") The Pilgrim's Progress. Believing that the opera might never be completed he decided to incorporate some of its ideas and themes into other works, most notably the Fifth Symphony.

The symphony was complete enough by the end of 1942 for the composer to prepare a two-piano transcription, which two friends played for him in late January 1943. Any doubts he had about the piece were allayed when he heard the first orchestral run-through on 25 May. He found that the symphony said what he meant it to.

Dedication

Vaughan Williams dedicated the symphony to Jean Sibelius. The musicologist J. P. E. Harper-Scott has called Sibelius "the influence of choice" among British symphonists in the years between the two World Wars, citing Walton's First Symphony, all seven of Bax's and the first five of Havergal Brian. The wording of the dedication differs between the manuscript and the published score: the ascription on the manuscript reads "Dedicated without permission and with the sincerest flattery to Jean Sibelius, whose great example is worthy of all imitation"; this was abbreviated on the published score to "Dedicated without permission to Jean Sibelius". The lack of "permission" may have resulted from problems of communication during World War II, given that Finland was at war with the Soviet Union, a British ally, at the time. Sir Adrian Boult subsequently secured permission, corresponding with Sibelius through an intermediary (Kurt Atterberg) in a neutral country (Sweden). After listening to a broadcast of the work, Sibelius wrote to Atterberg, "I heard Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams' new Symphony from Stockholm under the excellent leadership of Malcolm Sargent ... This Symphony is a marvellous work ... the dedication made me feel proud and grateful ... I wonder if Dr. Williams has any idea of the pleasure he has given me?"

The wording of the dedication led to speculation as to whether the work contains any direct quotations or imitations of Sibelius. Vaughan Williams made a study of Sibelius's music, notably his Symphony No. 4, before working on his own Symphony No. 5.

The symphony is in the customary four-movement form:

The composer provided metronome markings for all four movements, but they are widely regarded as dubious: the composer did not observe them when he conducted the work, and he expressed approval of Boult's tempi, which were similar to his own. His musical assistant Roy Douglas has suggested that Vaughan Williams simply miscalculated because he did not possess a metronome.

In addition to the Pilgrim's Progress allusions, the score has echoes of Vaughan Williams's hymn tune "Sine nomine", in the second subject of the first movement and at the end of the fourth movement.

I. Preludio

The first movement, in Frank Howes's analysis (1954), can be seen either as "an elaborate ternary form with coda" or "an exposition of two big groups of themes succeeded without development by a condensed recapitulation". This movement owes something to sonata form, but does not display all its characteristics; the second subject has been derived from the first subject. The movement opens with a pedal C in the bass, answered by a horn call outlining a D major chord in a dotted rhythm, which implies mixolydian D.

:<score sound="1"> { \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \key g \major \tempo "Moderato" 4 = 80 r2 <fis d>4.\p( <e a,>8 | <fis d>4. <e a,>8 <fis d>2) } \new Staff \relative c { \clef bass \key g \major \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 <c c,>1~ | <c c,>2. s4 } >> } </score>

The violins use the notes of the pentatonic scale, making the key ambiguous. Wilfrid Mellers believes this is why Vaughan Williams billed the movement as a Preludio, "which suggests an emergent state". The horn call motif fluctuates from major to minor, outlining the tonal ambiguity, moving between the mixolydian and dorian modes, which becomes a characteristic of the movement. The bass's C pedal becomes the tonic when the key changes to either the aeolian or dorian modes. The modality then moves to E, with a new melody in the violins, which, although it does not include a sharpened seventh, outlines E major. The bass, now played pizzicato, supports the melody both melodically and harmonically and the texture incorporates suspensions and passing notes, making the harmony richer. A sudden descent of a semitone, an idea previously used in Vaughan Williams's works Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Job, marks a key change to three flats and also the development section.

The tempo accelerates to allegro for the development. The strings are used to imply the winds of nature, in a similar vein to that of Sibelius. This is punctuated by the brass and woodwind with the falling semitone motif, which gets larger intervallically to a major second and then a minor third. This section is a canon; the polyphony of which Mellers believes shows the randomness of nature. The key shifts down mediants, until it reaches D minor, when the strings imitate Sibelius again, this time using tremolo effects.

For the recapitulation the tempo slows and the dynamics are reduced. The C pedal is reintroduced, but this time in a more melodic fashion. There is more development in the recapitulation. The movement ends in a similar way to the opening, with the horn call, but the key signature of two flats rather than one sharp is used. The basses descend to C via E, leaving the tonality of the movement still in question.

Arnold Whittall argues that "With respect to D Major, the Preludio might be regarded as a clear case of Schoenbergian 'Schwebende Tonalität' ('fluctuating: suspended, not yet decided' tonality)", although Vaughan Williams stated that Schoenberg's music meant nothing to him.

II. Scherzo

Vaughan Williams uses rhythm in the Scherzo to convey different effects. The focus of the movement is on the rhythm rather than the ambiguous tonality of the Preludio. Lionel Pike comments that "at times it seems more like a counterpoint of rhythms than of pitches." The movement begins with three dotted minims in a fast time ( = 120), and then minims for four bars, which create hemiolas and then crotchets. This gives the illusion that the music is accelerating, and so the pulse does not settle. When the melodic line begins, the music is divided into five bar phrases.

A sense of stability is established when the theme is repeated by the viola and double bass in stable two bar phrases. However, the violins enter with phrasing that does not conform to either pattern, thus adding more confusion. Using this rhythmic phrasing, the dorian line played on the violins and the aeolian woodwind line are differentiated rhythmically, as well as tonally. The rhythmical confusion is halted when the wind and strings alternate downward runs antiphonally.

III. Romanza

In the manuscript score Vaughan Williams headed this movement with words taken from Bunyan:

<poem>

Upon that place there stood a cross

And a little below a sepulchre … Then he said

"He hath given me rest by his sorrow and

Life by his death"

</poem>

The third and fourth lines were later sung in the opera by Pilgrim. The movement may be considered the spiritual core of the work: Frank Howes calls it "the heart of the symphony" and David Cox calls it "a profound meditation on the three main musical elements presented at the outset". Howes comments that with its spiritual, meditative nature there is nothing "romantic" about this movement; Michael Kennedy observes that with Vaughan Williams the term "is always a signal that the music was of special significance to him".

The opening cor anglais solo is taken virtually without change.

:<score sound="1"> \relative c' { \clef treble \time 3/4 \tempo "Lento" 4 = 66 r4 \times 2/3 { c8\p(-- c-- c-- } c-- d-- | e2) e4( | g4. f8 e[ d] | e d e4) fis( | g f! e8 d | e2)~\> e8\! } </score>

Rising fourths again appear as connecting passages.

IV. Passacaglia

:<score sound="1"> \relative c { \clef bass \time 3/4 \key d \major \tempo "Moderato" 4 = 120 d\p( b8 a e'4 | d2 cis4) | b( a8 fis e4 | b'2 a4) | g4( fis8 e d4 | e b' a) | b2( cis4) | d } </score>

Although this movement begins with the repetitive bass line characteristic of the passacaglia form, Vaughan Williams eventually abandons it. The triumphant primary melody of the passacaglia is used as Pilgrim's dialogue with Interpreter in the second half of "The House Beautiful" scene, while the fanfare motif recalls "The Arming of the Pilgrim" in Act II Scene 1. This ushers in a return of the themes from the first movement of the symphony, which are resolved into a quiet valediction played first by the woodwind and then by the upper strings.

Premieres and publication

The Fifth Symphony was premiered on 24 June 1943 at a Prom concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London, by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer. Sir Henry Wood, the founder and presiding figure of the Proms, was originally intended to conduct the performance but was not well enough and the composer was persuaded to take the baton. The American premiere was given in Carnegie Hall on 30 November 1944 by the New York Philharmonic under Artur Rodziński.

The score of the symphony was published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in 1946. Vaughan Williams lightly revised the score in 1951, but that revision was not published during his lifetime. It was published in 1961, re-engraved with corrections in 1969, and in 2008 OUP issued a new edition, edited by Peter Horton, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the composer's death.

Reception

In a survey of Vaughan Williams's nine symphonies, Elliott Schwartz writes:

Hubert Foss comments that public appreciation of the symphony "was more immediate than that of perhaps any other single work by the composer".

The response of music critics was generally enthusiastic. The anonymous reviewer in The Times wrote that the symphony "belongs to that small body of music that, outside of late Beethoven, can properly be described as transcendental … this is music not only of contemplation but of benediction". A grudging note was struck by William Glock, a proponent of avant-garde music, who commented in The Observer that the symphony was "like the work of a distinguished poet who has nothing very new to say, but says it in exquisitely flowing language". Neville Cardus wrote, "The Fifth Symphony contains the most benedictory and consoling music of our time." When the first recording came out in 1944 (see below) The Observer was more welcoming than Glock had been the year before, saying that the Fifth was to the Fourth Symphony as The Tempest is to King Lear … ideal beauty."

After its premiere at a Prom concert in June 1943, the symphony was given in each of the following four seasons, conducted by Boult (1944 and 1947) and Basil Cameron (1945 and 1946). Eighteen further performances were given in subsequent Prom seasons between 1949 and 2020.|group=n In 1994 the composer Anthony Payne wrote of the symphony:

Recordings

The symphony was first recorded within a year of the premiere, under the auspices of the British Council.

| John Barbirolli

| Hallé

| Houldsworth Hall, Manchester

| 17 Feb 1944

| Serge Koussevitzky

| Boston Symphony

| Sanders Theater, Harvard University

| 4 Mar 1947

| Ralph Vaughan Williams

| London Philharmonic

| Royal Albert Hall, London

| 3 Sep 1952

| Sir Adrian Boult

| London Philharmonic

| Kingsway Hall, London

| 2–4 Dec 1953

| Sir John Barbirolli

| Philharmonia

| Kingsway Hall

| 8–9 May 1962

| Sir Adrian Boult

| London Philharmonic

| Wembley Town Hall

| 1–3 Apr 1969

| André Previn

| London Symphony

| Kingsway Hall

| 25 & 28 May 1971

| Gennady Rozhdestvensky

| BBC Symphony

| Royal Festival Hall, London

| 22 Oct 1980

| Sir Alexander Gibson

| Royal Philharmonic

| EMI Abbey Road Studios, London

| 25–26 May 1982

| Vernon Handley

| Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

| Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

| Sep 1986

| Bryden Thomson

| London Symphony

| St Jude's Church, Hampstead

| 7–8 Apr 1987

| Yehudi Menuhin

| Royal Philharmonic

| All Saints Church, Tooting

| 30–31 Dec 1987

| André Previn

| Royal Philharmonic

| Walthamstow Assembly Hall

| 6–7 Jul 1988

| Gennady Rozhdestvensky

| USSR State Symphony

| Philharmonia Building, Leningrad

| 30 Oct 1988

| Leonard Slatkin

| Philharmonia

| Watford Town Hall

| 6–8 Apr 1990

| Sir Neville Marriner

| Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields

| Henry Wood Hall, London

| May 1990

| Andrew Davis

| BBC Symphony

| St Augustine's Church, Kilburn

| Dec 1992

| Bernard Haitink

| London Philharmonic

| Royal Festival Hall

| 15 Dec 1994

| Bernard Haitink

| London Philharmonic

| Abbey Road

| 17–18 Dec 1994

|André Previn

|Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music

|Giandomenico Studios, Collingswood, NJ

|8–9 Feb 1995

| Kees Bakels

| Bournemouth Symphony

| Poole Arts Centre

| 7–13 Sep 1996

| Roger Norrington

| London Philharmonic

| Watford Colosseum

| 25–27 Nov 1996

| Richard Hickox

| London Symphony

| All Saints, Tooting

| 28 Oct 1997

| Walter Hilgers

| Brandenburgischen Staatsorchester, Frankfurt (Oder)

| Konzerthalle Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Frankfurt (Oder)

| 22 Jun & 26 Aug 2005

| Robert Spano

| Atlanta Symphony

| Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta

| 25 Sep–3 Oct 2006

| Peter Oundjian

| Toronto Symphony

| Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto

| Nov 2008

| Martin Yates

| Bournemouth Symphony

| Lighthouse, Poole

| 1 Jul 2011

| Leon Botstein

| American Symphony

| Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson

| 21 Aug 2011

| Sir Mark Elder

| Hallé

| Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

| 9 Nov 2011

| Carlos Kalmar

| Oregon Symphony

| Schnitzer Hall, Portland, Oregon

| 18–19 Feb 2012

| Douglas Boyd

| Musikkollegium Winterthur

| Stadthaus, Winterthur

| 21–25 Feb 2012

| Douglas Bostock

| Argovia Philharmonic

| Kultur & Kongresshaus, Aarau

| 3–5 Nov 2013

| Andrew Manze

| Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

| Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

| 21–23 Apr 2017

| Michael Collins

| Philharmonia

| Watford Colosseum

| Jul 2019

|Martyn Brabbins

|BBC Symphony

|Watford Colosseum

|4–5 November 2019

|Sir Antonio Pappano

|London Symphony

|Barbican Hall

|17-18 Apr 2024

Symphony No. 5 (Vaughan Williams)

History

Background

Dedication

I. Preludio

II. Scherzo

III. Romanza

IV. Passacaglia

Premieres and publication

Reception

Recordings

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading