Sinfonia antartica ("Antarctic Symphony") is the Italian title given by Ralph Vaughan Williams to his seventh symphony, first performed in 1953. It drew on incidental music the composer had written for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic.

Background and first performances

By the mid-1940s, Vaughan Williams had written five symphonies of widely varying characters, from the choral Sea Symphony (1909)[1] to the turbulent and discordant Fourth (1934)[2] and the serene Fifth (1943), which some took to be the septuagenarian composer's symphonic swan song.[3] In the event there were four more symphonies to come; his Sixth was premiered in 1948.[4] After completing it, Vaughan Williams undertook a substantial film score to accompany Scott of the Antarctic produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Charles Frend.[5] The composer became deeply interested in and moved by the story of the disastrous polar expedition of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions, and music suggested by ice and wind, penguins and whales came into his head.[6] Before even seeing the film script he had composed most of the score.[7] His biographer Michael Kennedy writes that the autograph full score contains 996 bars of music, of which about half was used in the finished film.[n 1]

While writing the film music, Vaughan Williams had begun to feel that it might later form the basis of a symphony.[9] He worked on that intermittently during the next few years, between other major compositions including his opera The Pilgrim's Progress. By early 1952 the symphony was complete. His musical assistant Roy Douglas played a piano arrangement to a group of musicians including Arthur Bliss, Gerald Finzi and Edward Dent; also in the group was Ernest Irving, who had commissioned the film score and to whom Vaughan Williams dedicated the new symphony. An orchestral score was sent to Sir John Barbirolli, who had secured the composer's agreement that he should conduct the premiere. The work was first given in public on 14 January 1953 at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, by Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra and Choir with Margaret Ritchie in the wordless soprano solo.[10] The performers repeated the performance at the same venue the following evening, and gave the London premiere at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 January.[11] The title of the symphony was changed at the last minute from Sinfonia Antarctica to Sinfonia Antartica, so as to use consistently Italian spelling in the two words.[11]

The first American performance was given on 2 April 1953 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rafael Kubelík.[12] The Australian premiere was given by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eugene Goossens on 17 June 1953.[13]

Score notes

The work is scored for a large orchestra including:

Mechanics of the composition

A typical performance lasts around 45 minutes. There are five movements. The composer specified that the third movement lead directly into the fourth. The score includes a brief literary quotation at the start of each movement. While Vaughan Williams did not say that these quotations were intended to form part of a performance of the work, they are sometimes declaimed in performance and in recordings. Among the recordings including the quotations are Sir Adrian Boult's first recording for Decca in 1954 (supervised by the composer) with Sir John Gielgud narrating, and André Previn's 1967 recording for RCA with Sir Ralph Richardson narrating.[14]

1. Prelude: Andante maestoso

  • To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite,/ To forgive wrongs darker than death or night,/ To defy power which seems omnipotent,/ ... / Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent:/ This ... is to be/ Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free,/ This is alone Life, Joy, Empire and Victory. (quotation from Shelley, Prometheus Unbound)
{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c' { \clef treble \time 3/4 \tempo "Andante maestoso" 4 = 80 ees2\p( f4 | g4. a8 b4~ | b\< c\!\> b\!) } \new Staff \relative c' { \clef bass \time 3/4 <bes ges ees,>2.( | <d b g,> | <ees aes, aes,>) } >> }

2. Scherzo: Moderato

  • There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein. (quotation from Psalm 104, Verse 26)
\relative c' { \clef treble \key bes \major \time 6/8 \tempo "Moderato" 4. = 58 <f d bes ges>4.\p <d c bes g>8 <f d bes ges>4 | <ges c, bes f>2. }

3. Landscape: Lento

  • Ye ice falls! Ye that from the mountain's brow/ Adown enormous ravines slope amain —/ Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice,/ And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge!/ Motionless torrents! Silent cataracts! (quotation from Coleridge, Hymn before Sunrise, in the vale of Chamouni)
{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c''' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \tempo "Lento" 4 = 72 R1 | r8 <a f>4(\pp <gis fis>8~ <gis fis>4~ <gis fis>8) r | r8 <a f>4( <gis fis>8~ <gis fis>4~ <gis fis>8) r | << { s1 | r8 <a f>4( <gis fis>8~ <gis fis>4~ <gis fis>8) r } \\ { r4 a,,(\mp bes des | bes2 a) } >> } \new Staff \relative c { \clef bass \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 e,1\trill\ppp~ | e1~ | e1~ | e1~ | e1~ } >> }

4. Intermezzo: Andante sostenuto

  • Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,/ Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. (quotation from Donne, The Sun Rising)
\relative c' { \clef treble \key d \major \time 3/4 \tempo "Andante sostenuto" 4 = 98 d4(\p e fis | d'2 cis4 | b a fis) }

5. Epilogue: Alla marcia, moderato (non troppo allegro)

  • I do not regret this journey; we took risks, we knew we took them, things have come out against us, therefore we have no cause for complaint. (quotation from Captain Scott's Last Journal)
\relative c' { \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \tempo "Alla marcia moderato (non troppo allegro)" 4 = 108 c4\ff f bes8 c ees4~ | ees8 d16 b! ees8 d b! bes g4~ | g8 f g c d4. c8 | d4. c8 d4 c~ | c2. }

Recordings

Conductor Orchestra Chorus Soloist Narrator Recorded Cat no
Sir John Barbirolli Hallé Orchestra Hallé Choir Margaret Ritchie — Free Trade Hall, 15–16 June 1953 HMV ALP 1102
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic London Philharmonic Choir Margaret Ritchie John Gielgud Kingsway Hall, 10–11 Dec 1953 Decca LXT 2912
André Previn London Symphony Orchestra Ambrosian Singers Heather Harper Ralph Richardson Kingsway Hall, 14–16 Sept 1967 RCA Victor SB 6736
Sir Adrian Boult London Philharmonic London Philharmonic Choir Norma Burrowes — Kingsway Hall, 18–21 Nov 1969 HMV ASD 2631
Ainslee Cox American Symphony Orchestra ASO Women's Chorus Jacqueline Pierce Franklin Williams Carnegie Hall, 13 April 1970 CRQ Editions CD 251
Bernard Haitink London Philharmonic London Philharmonic Choir Sheila Armstrong — Royal Festival Hall, 27 Nov 1984 LPO-0072
Bernard Haitink London Philharmonic London Philharmonic Choir Sheila Armstrong — Abbey Road, 28–29 Nov 1984 EMI CDC 7 47516 2
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky USSR State Symphony Orchestra Chamber Choir of Moscow Conservatory Elena Dof-donskaya — Philharmonia Building, Leningrad, 28 April 1989 Melodiya CD 10-02170-5
Bryden Thomson London Symphony Orchestra LSO Chorus Catherine Bott — St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead, 19–22 June 1989 Chandos CHAN 8796
Vernon Handley Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Liverpool Philharmonic Choir Alison Hargan — Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, April 1990 EMI Eminence CD EMX 2173
Leonard Slatkin Philharmonia Orchestra Philharmonia Chorus Linda Hohenfeld — Abbey Road, 28–29 Nov 1991 RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-61195-2
Raymond Leppard Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Dominique Labelle — 27–29 April 1992 Koss Classics KC 2214
Andrew Davis BBC Symphony Orchestra BBC Symphony Chorus Patricia Rozario — St Augustine's Church, London, March 1996 Teldec 0630-13139-2
Kees Bakels Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Waynflete Singers Lynda Russell David Timson Poole Arts Centre, 6–7 Sept 1996 Naxos 8.550737
Sir Andrew Davis Bergen Philharmonic Bergen Philharmonic Choir, Grieg Kor Mari Eriksmoen — Grieghallen, Bergen, 30 Jan to 2 Feb 2017 Chandos CHSA 5186
Andrew Manze Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Liverpool Philharmonic Choir Rowan Pierce Timothy West Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, 28 Sept 2018 ONYX, ONYX4190
Sir Mark Elder Hallé Orchestra Hallé Choir Sophie Bevan — Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 24 January 2019, live and in rehearsal Hallé CD HLD 7558

Notes, references and sources

Notes

  1. ↑ A suite arranged from the complete score premiered in 2002 plays for more than 40 minutes and consists of 18 sections.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Howes, p. 3
  2. ↑ Howes, pp. 34–35
  3. ↑ Howes, p. 41
  4. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 283
  5. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 279
  6. ↑ Vaughan Williams, pp. 279–280
  7. ↑ Kennedy, p. 5
  8. ↑ Kennedy, p. 3
  9. ↑ Vaughan Williams, p. 286
  10. ↑ "A New Symphony", The Times, 15 January 1953, p. 3
  11. 1 2 "Vaughan Williams' 'Sinfonia Antartica': The First Performance", Illustrated London News, 24 January 1953, p. 131
  12. ↑ Cassidy, Claudia. "On the Aisle", Chicago Tribune, 3 April 1953, p. 2/1
  13. ↑ "'Antarctic' Symphony at Concert", Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1953, p. 2
  14. ↑ Stuart, Philip. Decca Classical 1929–2009. Retrieved 22 December 2021

Sources

  • Howes, Frank (1954). The Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 459433504.
  • Kennedy, Michael (2002). The Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Colchester: Chandos. OCLC 173228673.
  • Vaughan Williams, Ursula (1964). RVW: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-315411-7.

Further reading

  • Beckerman, Michael (Spring 2000). "The Composer as Pole Seeker: Reading Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia antartica." Current Musicology, no. 69, pp. 42–67.
  • Grimley, Daniel M. (Spring-Summer 2008). "Music, Ice, and the 'Geometry of Fear': The Landscapes of Vaughan Williams's 'Sinfonia Antartica.'" The Musical Quarterly, vol. 91, nos. 1–2, pp. 116–150.
  • Mason, Colin. (March 1953). "Vaughan Williams's 'Sinfonia Antartica.'" The Musical Times, vol. 94, no. 1321, p. 128.
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