Pastoral Symphony

The “Pastoral Symphony” is the third symphony composed in 1922 by Ralph Vaughan Williams . Originally it was not numbered. Vaughan Williams came up with the idea for this symphony during the First World War after hearing a clairon , a military signal trumpet, which happened to blow a seventh interval instead of an octave. This eventually led to the trumpet cadenza in the second movement.

The work is one of the least publicly performed of Vaughan Williams' symphonies. But it has earned a reputation for being a very subtle elegy on the dead of World War I and a meditation on the sound of peace. Like many of the composer's other works, the Pastoral Symphony has no actual program, but its 'spirit' is very evocative. None of the four movements are quick, but there are isolated passages that are extroverted.

The symphony was described somewhat detrimentally by Constance Lambert as "a cow looking over the gate". Igor Stravinsky extended this derogatory criticism by reminding himself of a state of "looking at a cow for a long time". Williams, on the other hand, emphasized that his work had nothing to do with jumping little calves. Rather, the work relates to French fields during the First World War, where the composer worked in the medical care of the British Army.

The symphony has four movements:

Molto moderato : The atmosphere of the music exudes great serenity, but with a darker passage in the middle. This first movement contains harmonies reminiscent of Maurice Ravel , with whom Vaughan Williams studied from 1907-08. The music is lyrical. Often the focus is on a solo instrument that sounds like improvising, the melodies flow so naturally into one another. Apart from that, however, a closer analysis shows that the movement is actually composed in the sonata form.
Lento moderato - Moderato maestoso : the slow movement begins with an F major horn solo over an F minor chord, a theme that appears first on a solo cello. As in the first movement, the musical ideas flow together easily and effortlessly. At the end there is the trumpet cadenza, which is blown by a so-called 'natural trumpet' (a trumpet without a valve combination). The result of this idea is that it allows the seventh harmonic to retain its natural 'inharmonious' melody. The entire cadenza is played over an organ point in the strings. The musical material of the cadenza appears later in the horns, gently accompanied by the opening theme of the movement, this time played by the clarinet . The movement ends with a silent chord in the high register of the violins.
Moderato pesante : Vaughan Williams describes this sentence, which has the function of a scherzo , as a “slow dance”. The trio , introduced by the brass , has a fast, brighter quality, but it also repeats some heavier elements from previous music. After the abbreviated return of the main material, there is a notable coda , a calm, moody, dream-like passage with some fugue-like thoughts that could be described as fairy music. This is the only place in the symphony where the music gets really fast. A theme from the main musical material creeps into the fugue. The movement ends with a peaceful long chord that lets you forget any trace of depression.
Lento : The last movement begins with a pentatonic recitative for a wordless soprano voice sung over a gentle drum roll. Then the orchestra begins with an elegiac rhapsody and the meditative 'undervaluations' of the previous three movements are quickly replaced by a passionate outburst of emotion. The tensions that were previously only slightly noticeable under the surface are now breaking out directly. The climax of the symphony comes when the violins all together support the initial soprano melody in “appassionato”. At the very end of the symphony, the soprano returns to its original function and sings the music as it were in sleep.

literature

Michael Kennedy, The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (London 1964).
Ursula Vaughan Williams, RVW: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Londen 1963).