Ralph Vaughan Williams Catalogue

Dramatic Works
The Bridal Day
Narrator, baritone soloist, chorus, and small
orchestra
picc, fl, pn, str OR fl, pno
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193388338
The Bridal Day is a masque founded on Edmund Spenser’s
Epithalamion, an ode to his bride on their wedding day.
The poem was suggested to Vaughan Williams by Ursula
Wood, whom he later married. The masque comprises a
combination of dances, choruses, solo singing, and spoken
word, with the music reflecting the joyful, untroubled
nature of the words. Vaughan Williams later used the work
as the basis for the cantata Epithalamion.
45 minutes
ed. Roy Douglas
The Death of Tintagiles
Spirituals
Chamber orchestra
Score and parts on hire 9780193388505
ob, cl, hn, str
This melancholic and darkly atmospheric score was
composed as incidental music for a 1913 production of
the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck’s play The
Death of Tintagiles. In the play, Tintagiles’s family have been
murdered by the Queen and, although he tries to escape,
he is ultimately murdered by the Queen too. Marionettes
are used in place of actors in order, demonstrating that
the characters are merely puppets of fate. Despite the
generally morose tone, the music still has moments
of warmth and tenderness, and does not display the
violence and abrasiveness of some of the composer’s later
works.
15 minutes
Dramatic Works
ed. Julian Rushton
Job
A Masque for Dancing
Full orchestra
Orchestral version: 3 fl (III + picc & afl, III opt), 2 ob (II opt),
ca, 3 cl (III opt), bcl, asax (opt), 2 bn, cbn (opt), 4 hn, 3 tpt (III
opt), 3 tbn, tba, 2 hp (II hp), org, timp, perc, str
Study score 9780193514324
Score and parts on hire - orchestra 9780193691810
Piano Reduction* 9780193512757
The one-act ballet Job has been described as one of
Vaughan Williams’s mightiest achievements. It is a work
which, in a full production, combines painting, literature,
music, and dance. The work was inspired by William Blake’s
Illustrations of the Book of Job , and includes quotations
from the King James Bible. The result is a musical
masterpiece, combining the ancient and the modern:
Vaughan Williams’s earlier style is in evidence, including
tranquil pastoral melodies, but the work also anticipates
the composer’s later style.
*Available from Banks Music Publications
45 minutes
arr. Constant Lambert
Job
A Masque for Dancing
Full orchestra
Theatre version: 2 fl (II + picc), ob, 2 cl, asax (opt), bn, 2 hn,
2 tpt, tbn, 3 perc (glock, timp, xyl, tri, cym, SD, BD, tam),
timp, hp, str
Study score 9780193514324
Score and parts for hire - theatre orch 9780193691827
45 minutes
The Pilgrim’s Progress
A Morality
34 soli, chorus, and full orchestra
2 fl (II+picc), 2 ob (II+ca), 2 cl, 2 bn, cbn (opt), 4 hn, 2 tpt, 2
tpt on stage (opt), 3 tbn, tba, euph (opt), timp, perc (SD, TD,
BD, cym, gong, tri, xylo, glock, bell), hp, cel (opt), str
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193392298
Chorus scores on hire 9780193392267
Vocal score* 9780193392250
John Bunyan’s 1678 allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress
fascinated Vaughan Williams throughout his career. He
returned to the text several times in different forms,
but it wasn’t until 1951 that this stage work was finally
completed. Reflecting its long gestation, it encompasses
the whole of the composer’s stylistic gamut: there is serene
lyricism, mystical exoticism, turbulence, violence, and
noble grandeur. The opera was first performed at the Royal
Opera House in 1951.
*Available from Banks Music Publications
120 minutes
The Poisoned Kiss
A Romantic Extravaganza
12 soloists, chorus, 2 speaking roles, and full
orchestra
2 fl (II+picc), ob, ca, 2 cl, bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, tbn, timp,
2 perc (BD, SD, gong, clash cym, tamb, sus cym, tri, xyl), hp
or pn, str
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193393004
This stage work is based on a fairytale-like story by Richard
Garnett, with lyrics by Evelyn Sharp and passages of
dialogue by Ursula Vaughan Williams. The most notable
feature of the score is the strength of its melodic invention,
which ranges from gentle and lilting to raucous and
boisterous. In 2016, Adrian Williams arranged music from
the opera into a single movement work for orchestra
entitled A Road All Paved with Stars, showcasing the finest
passages. The overture of the opera is available to hire
separately.
120 minutes
Riders to the Sea
5 soloists, upper-voice chorus and orchestra
2 fl (II+picc), ob, ca, bcl (or cl & bcl), bn, 2 hn, tpt, timp, BD,
sea machine, str
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193393349
Chorus scores on hire 9780193393325
Study score* 9780193393356
This one act opera, from a play by J.M. Synge, is the story of
a family’s lament for sons lost at sea off the Donegal coast.
It is notable for the orchestral portraits of the sea and the
wind, which ultimately led to the Sinfonia Antartica, and
many consider it to be Vaughan Williams’s finest theatrical
work.
*Available from Archive
42 minutes
The Shepherds of Delectable
Mountains
STTBarBB soli, SA chorus, and chamber orchestra
2 fl, ob, ca, str; off stage: 2 tpt, hp, 3 bells
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193393905
This ‘pastoral episode’ was composed as an independent
stage work in 1922, but was later incorporated into The
Pilgrim’s Progress (1951) with its final scene omitted. The
tranquil music reflects the rural setting, with expressive
solo instrumental lines adorning mellow vocal melodies.
The work features six solo singing roles, an offstage
women’s chorus, and chamber orchestra.
23 minutes
ed. David Lloyd-Jones
Sir John in Love
Second Edition
Soli, SATB chorus, and full orchestra
2 fl, 2 ob (+ca), 2 cl, 2 bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, tbn, timp, perc (rattle,
bell, cym, SD, BD, tri, tam, sus cym, glock, xyl), hp, str
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193543645
Study Score 9780193524682
Dramatic Works
Vaughan Williams turned to William Shakespeare for
inspiration on many occasions, and such was the case
with his opera Sir John in Love. The libretto, written by
the composer, is based on The Merry Wives of Windsor,
with texts by contemporaries of Shakespeare such as
Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Campion
interpolated. Characteristically, Vaughan Williams
incorporates folksongs into the score, most notably
‘Greensleeves’. For this comprehensive new edition, the
editor (and conductor) David Lloyd-Jones has drawn on all
available sources, providing an authoritative full score with
critical commentary.
125 minutes
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