The Lark Ascending
The Lark Ascending (The rising lark ) is a piece for violin and small orchestra , written in 1914 by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams . The composition depicts the ascent of a lark into the sky.
Vaughan Williams was inspired by the 122-line poem of the same name by George Meredith about the lark. His composition was interrupted by the First World War, so that the piece was only performed with an orchestra on June 14, 1921 under Adrian Boult after a revision from 1920 . The premiere took place only with piano accompaniment. Marie Hall was the violinist in both performances .
The Times' criticism of the first performance was: “It was in the highest form indifferent to the ways of today or yesterday. It raved about itself. "(It showed supreme disregard for the ways of today or yesterday. It dreamed itself along.)
The use of patterns from a pentatonic scale frees the violin from a strong tonal center and reveals the impressionistic side of Vaughan Williams' style. The cadences for the solo violin are written without bar lines (senza misura), which gives them a sense of meditative liberation. The piece was partly associated with the English violinist Hugh Bean .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Megan Hobbs: Birds of a feather , Limelight, October 2002