Ralph Vaughan Williams Catalogue

Sacred Choral Music
The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune
All People that on Earth do Dwell
SATB, congregation, and full orchestra, or organ
with brass fanfare
Original full orch version: 3 fl, 3 ob, 2 cl, bcl, 2 bn, cbn, 4 hn,
3 tpt, 3 tbn, tba, timp, 2 perc (cym, BD, SD), org, str;
Fanfare: 4 tpt, 3 tbn, SD
SATB vocal score 9780193535084
Score and parts on hire - original 9780193547216
Congregation part* 9780193535091
Vaughan Williams provided music for royal ceremonies
several times during his long career; this arrangement
was for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It
is a gloriously majestic setting of the hymn ‘All people
that on earth do dwell’ with spectacular brass fanfares
and opportunities for congregational singing. There are
also calmer moments: verse 4, for example, borrows from
John Dowland’s setting of the psalm, harking back to
the previous Elizabethan age. The work was given its first
concert performance by the Hallé Orchestra under Sir
John Barbirolli in 1957, and a year later was sung at the
composer’s own funeral at Westminster Abbey.
*Available from Banks Music Publications
6 minutes
arr. Roy Douglas
SATB and reduced orchestra or brass
Douglas reduced orch: 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 4 hn, 3 tpt, 3 tbn,
tuba, timp, 2-3 perc (SD, cym, BD), str
Douglas large brass ensemble: 4 tpt, hn (opt), 4 tbn (IV tbn
or tba), timp, org
Douglas small brass ensemble: 3 tpt, timp (opt), org
Score and parts on hire - reduced orch 9780193695276
Score and parts on hire - large brass 9780193695290
Score and parts on hire - small brass 9780193695283
arr. Robert Washburn
SATB and concert band
2 fl, 2 ob, 1 bn, Eb cl, 3 Bb cl, Eb alcl, Bb bass cl, Eb contraalto
cl, Bb contra bass, 2 Eb asax, Bb tsax, Eb bari sax, 3 Bb
tpt, 4 hn, 3 tbn, euph, tba, str bass, timp, perc, org
Score and parts on hire - concert band 9780193375314
Score and parts - concert band*
*Available from Emerson Wind Music
6 minutes
The Pilgrim Pavement
SATB
Vocal score 9780193398764
Available from Banks Music Publications
Prayer to the Father of Heaven
SATB unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780195366105
In this unaccompanied motet, Vaughan Williams sets a text
by the English poet John Skelton (c.1463–1529). The music
captures the spirituality of the text with floating choral
lines and a sophisticated harmonic language, employing
eerie dissonances to create a sense of otherworldliness.
The work carries the following dedication: ‘To the memory
of my master Hubert Parry not as an attempt palely to
reflect his incomparable art, but in the hope that he would
have found in this motet (to use his own words) ‘something
characteristic’ .’
4.5 minutes
Te Deum and Benedictus
Unison voices or SATB and organ, harmonium or
piano
Te Deum in G
SATB (with divisions), opt. congregation, and
organ/orchestra/strings and organ or piano
Orch: 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 4 hn (2 opt), 2 tpt, 3 tbn, tba (opt),
timp, cym, str
Vocal score 9780193535213
Vocal and instrumental scores on hire 9780193547513
Composed for the enthronement of Dr Cosmo Lang
as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1928, much of this
striking setting is permeated by emphatically forwardmoving
crotchets. Tonal exploration adds to this sense
of momentum, as does the building of the texture in
the opening passage from powerful choral unison to
resplendent imitation between SATB Decani and Cantoris
voices. Unusually, the piece does not continue to build in
intensity throughout but instead gradually takes on a more
reflective character, with a soft pianissimo chord bringing
it to a restful close. Orchestral and strings accompaniments
arranged by Arnold Foster.
7 minutes
The Song of the Tree of Life
Unison or two-part voices and piano
Vocal score 9780195365610
Adapted from music from The Pilgrim’s Progress, this setting
of words from Revelation 2 is profound and mystical.
Flowing melodies, atmospheric harmonic shifts, and
hushed dynamics give the piece an ethereal quality that
powerfully evokes the religious transcendence described
in the text.
3 minutes
The souls of the righteous
STB soloists and SATB unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780195366068
This unaccompanied motet was first performed at the
dedication of the Battle of Britain Chapel in Westminster
Abbey, London, and has an accordingly sombre tone. It
opens with a haunting soprano solo, and this ethereal
atmosphere continues with unexpected harmonic shifts
and hushed vocal writing. The words are taken from The
Wisdom of Solomon (3: 1–5) and convey death as peaceful
for those who have been ‘righteous’. This motet would be
particularly well suited to funeral or memorial services.
3 minutes
The Twenty-third Psalm
Solo soprano and SATB unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193535244
Available from Banks Music Publications
Two Chorals from ‘Hodie’
SATB unaccompanied
Vocal score 9780193853850
These two chorals are taken from Vaughan Williams’s
1954 Christmas Cantata Hodie (This Day) - his last major
composition for choir and orchestra. ‘The blessed son of
God’ is the fifth movement of the original work, and is a
hushed, tender setting of Miles Coverdale’s translation of a
hymn by Martin Luther. The second choral, ‘No sad thought
his soul affright’, is the penultimate movement of the work,
and introduces moments of mystical discordance to the
gentle tone set in the first choral.
The blessed son of God • No sad though his soul affright
5 minutes
Sacred Choral Music
Score and parts (3 tpts, timp, and org) 9780193850293
Vocal score 9780193535183
6 minutes
arr. C. Hazell
This setting of the Te Deum and Benedictus texts employs
well-known metrical psalm tunes, including Old 104th,
Song 13, and Magdalen College.
SATB and brass
Hazell brass: 3 tpt, 3 tbn, perc (timp, SD), org
Score and parts on hire - brass ensemble 9780193547230
6 minutes
arr. David Stone
SATB and orchestra
Stone orch : 2 fl (opt), ob (opt), 2 cl (opt), bn (opt), 2 hn
(opt), 2 tpt (opt), tbn (opt), timp, perc (BD, SD, glock), pn, str
Score and parts on hire - full orchestral 9780193695528
6 minutes
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