Ralph Vaughan Williams

[Norrette]

His life story on Ch 5 this a.m. says he enlisted as a private in the "Ambulance Corps" and this section of the film showed many images and footage of Vimy Ridge then and now. Do you think he may have been a stretcher bearer during that battle, or was that the only footage the film company could come up with?

Happy New year one and all

[centurion]

I understand that RVW drove an ambulance rather than being a stretcher bearer.

[Medic7922]

He was unquestionably a patriotic Englishman who, although forty-two, in 1914 volunteered for the Army Medical Corps, spending five years in uniform, mainly on the Western Front, and headed a field ambulance at the Somme. Many of his friends, of course, were killed, including George Butterworth.

http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/001315.php

[Paul Reed]

From memory he worked in an Advanced Dressing Station at Ecoivres during the 1917 fighting around Arras. This ADS would have received wounded from the fighting around Vimy and in the neighbouring sectors. There is quite a large cemetery there today, and much of the original buildings in the village are still to be seen.

[Kate Wills]

He was a private in the 2/4th London Field Ambulance, of 60th Division, serving with them in France and Salonika from 1916. The Divisional history tells us

"HQ was established in the Chateau at Flers, about 5 miles south of St Pol on 25th June, well in the rear of the Arras section to which the Division had been appointed. Staff officers were then sent forward...to the HQ of 51st Highland Division, which the 60th were to relieve at the front, facing the Vimy Ridge"

I understand that RVW's unit was based at Ecoivres, near Mont St Eloi, and the landscape here inspired the Pastoral Symphony (no 3) which is often used to accompany Great War documentaries. Later that year, the Division moved to Salonika, where RVW conducted a carol concert in the shadows of Mount Olympus.

Later in the war, he took a commission in the RGA.

[Norrette]

Thanks for your replies all. Re: the stretcher bearer mistake, I must write out 100 times "Do not believe all you read on wikipedia" :-)

Off to order the pastoral symphony now - and the film was excellent, not in stock yet at Amazon.

Norrette

[centurion]

British composers in general (although there were exceptions) appear to have been very supportive of the war despite a number of them having German connections. Gustav von Holst tried unsuccesfully to get into some form of military service (he was very unfit) before finally seving in the Middle East with the YMCA organising musical events etc for the troops (and dropping the von). Elgar although too old to serve wrote a number of patriotic works not much heard today (I have a CD of his GWar works). There were however some odd gliches. Elgar set one of Kipling's poems (about the work of destroyers) as a choral work, for performance at a charity concert to raise money for services to soldiers, but Kippling objected and refused to let it be performed (i don't think thatits ever been heard.

[Kate Wills]

npm,

I don't know which recording of the Pastoral you intend to buy, but here's a review from Gramophone Magazine of a complete RVW symphony cycle(plus other orchestral and choral works) by Vernon Handley and the RPO, on budget label Eminence (an EMI label). You may want to have a look at what is available on eBay and other online music stores to compare prices. Although the Handley has been deleted, it should not be too difficult to track one down

Vaughan Williams

Flos campi - Serenade to Music - Symphony No 1, 'A Sea Symphony' - Symphony No 2, 'A London Symphony' - Symphony No 3, 'A Pastoral Symphony' - Symphony No 4 - Symphony No 5 - Symphony No 6 - Symphony No 7, 'Sinfonia antartica' - Symphony No 8 - Symphony No 9

Alison Barlow , Alison Hargan , Joan Rodgers , Joan Sutherland sops William Shimell bar Christopher Balmer va

Liverpool Philharmonic Choir; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley

EMI Eminence CDBOX-VW1 (396 minutes : DDD)

From CD-EMX9512(8803), CD-EMX2209(9308), CD-EMX2192(9211), CD-EMX2173(9109), CD-EMX2142(8902)

Reviewed: Gramophone 1/1995, Andrew Achenbach

No sooner had I put the finishing touches to my review of Vernon Handley's exciting new coupling of VW Nos. 6 and 9 (see above) when his complete Eminence cycle arrived for evaluation. Like Leonard Slatkin's RCA set (which also runs to six discs), the re-packaging is straightforward, with the original releases housed in an attractively sturdy slipcase. Chandos managed to squeeze Bryden Thomson's LSO cycle on to just five discs though that of course meant losing all the valuable fill-ups (they can now be found on a separate two-disc set, 8/94). Needless to say, each of the three sets possesses considerable strengths. Thomson's high-spots include a sensitive Fifth, spaciously characterful London and tremendous Fourth, but his soggy Sixth and under-motivated Eighth are real let-downs. Slatkin's achievement is altogether far more consistent. His Fourth is, if anything even more compulsive than Thomson's (and probably the finest account since the composer's own electrifying 1937 recording), and the Pastoral Eighth and Ninth in particular are accorded memorable advocacy. Throughout, the American maestro draws playing of incomparable refinement from a superbly co-ordinated Philharmonia, a factor which can bring mixed blessings: compare his fascinating London (an interpretation notable for its fastidious, very Ravelian manners) with his oddly unmoving, self-consciously 'gorgeous' Fifth (full of the most bewitching sounds but adding up to frustratingly little).

By contrast, the majority of Handley's performances can withstand comparison with the very best. The first to appear was the Fifth Symphony. Rightly acclaimed on its initial release, this remains a gloriously rapt, yet formidably lucid realization. The coupling, a supremely dedicated rendering of the exquisite Flos campi, is just as distinguished. Handley's masterly pacing is a compelling feature of both the Sea Symphony and Sinfonia antartica, but, whilst it is difficult to fault either performance on artistic grounds, here more than elsewhere one notes the limitations of the slightly cramped acoustic of Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. There are no technical shortcomings about the Third or Fourth, though: next to Andre Previn's sublime 1971 LSO account, Handley's illuminatingly intense Pastoral is the one I cherish most, whilst his stunning Fourth yields only (amongst modern counterparts) to Slatkin's m terms of unbridled ferocity and orchestral virtuosity. MS understandably enthused about the pairing of Nos. 2 and 8 in August 1993: this is outstandingly perceptive, marvellously communicative music-making, with both scores emerging as fresh as the day they were conceived. And, as I hope my review above makes abundantly clear similar qualities inform Handley's recordings of Nos. 6 and 9, both of which deserve to be ranked alongside the finest versions of either symphony currently available. A final word of praise for Andrew Keener's exemplary production values throughout, not to mention the admirably natural results obtained by recording engineers Mike Hatch and Mike Clements; only in the Sea Symphony did I register any hint of strain or slight inconsistencies of balance.

Most VW aficionados will have doubtless snapped up the separate issues of Handley's Liverpool cycle as soon as they appeared in the shops. However, anyone on the look-out for an integral set can confidently invest in this Eminence package: Handley's long-standing authority in (and total empathy for) this repertoire cannot be overestimated, and these consistently idiomatic readings will provide many hours of pleasurable listening. Perhaps Eminence will now let Handley lavish his exceptional skills on those other lesser-explored areas of British music particularly close to his heart—I for one recall a magnificent performance of Bax's glorious Third Symphony from these same artists a year or so back.'

Andrew Achenbach

>>>>>>>>>

Centurion

Are you referring to Fringes of the Fleet?

If so, that had quite a few performances in 1917 until Kipling raised objections in the wake of soul-searching following his son's death. A recording was made in July 1917. One of the four baritones who performed this work (always to great acclaim) was Charles Mott, who fell serving with the Artist's Rifles in May 1918.

[centurion]

I'll have to check

I understood that Kippling's objection was because Elgar hadn't asked his permission first.

[Kate Wills]

Probably a bit of both. I'll have to check.

[Kate Wills]

npm (can I call you n for short?)

Here's a link to the National Archive's online collection of documents related to RVW's war service

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...hanwilliams.asp

[Norrette]

can I call you n for short?

Anything you like Kate :-) - N or Norrette - I presume you had sigs turned off? Thanks for the NA link.

Norrette

[Graham-McAdam]

Can't believe I missed this film, but how can we be expected to notice anything on C5 at 9am on New Year's Day! It was part of an acrimonious discussion when the BBC refused to commission it, after years of marvellous Tony Palmer films.

Apparently somebody wrote to him from the BBC .....'But good luck with the project, and do let me know if Mr. V. Williams has an important premiere in the future as this findability might allow us to reconsider.'.

More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/09/bbc.tvnews

God Almighty, dumbing down or what.

[Moriaty]

Another British composer who fought in the Great War was Arthur Bliss, he was a friend of both Vaughan Williams and Holst.

Bliss, who initially joined up as a private, was later commissioned, he served in the 13th Royal Fusiliers and 1st Bn Grenadiers. He was wounded at the Somme and gassed at Cambrai in 1918.

His brother Francis Kennard Bliss, a second lieutenant in the RFA, 459th Howitzer Bty, 59th Bde, was killed at the age of 24 on 28 September 1916, and is buried at Aveluy.

Arthur Bliss composed his symphony Morning Heroes, first performed in 1930, dedicating it to his brother Kennard and those who fell in the war.

Moriaty

[Martin Bennitt]

According to the notes with the Previn recordings of the symphonies, RVW was a 'waggon orderly' at Ecoivres, but I don't know what his duties would have been as such. His Pastoral Symphony in particular was infuenced by his war service.

cheers Martin B

[MartinWills]

Moriary,

Thanks for reminding us about Bliss.

Sadly Morning Heroes has not had the performance or recording "track record" it deserves. There is only one recording truly worth having, that conducted by Sir Charles Groves, the CD of which was deleted some years back.

Good news, however, in the last few months - it has finally been re-released and anyone interested in music related to the great war should go out and buy a copy straight away (or even stay in and order it on-line). It is at budget price and should cost no more than £6 to £8 and it comes not as a single CD but as a two disc release coupled with Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (which uses the poetry of Wilfrid Owen). The requiem is performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle - a worthy recording and by the orchestra responsible for it's original premiere and which still contained one or two people who had played in that premiere.

[Moriaty]

Many thanks for this news Martin, I will do as instructed and order a copy of the Bliss/Britten CD/CDs forthwith with my Christmas money!

Moriaty

[Norrette]

Off to order the pastoral symphony now - and the film was excellent, not in stock yet at Amazon.

The Bio-pic is in stock now :- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thou-Transcendent-...ef=pd_rhf_p_t_4

[motorman]

Not sure about the music but I can confirm that he took a commision, in fact he was with my grandfather from march 1918 with the 141 heavy battery, he is listed in a diary with some sort of saving club along with some others but frustratingly there is no mention of where they were.