Product Description

In the first years of the twentieth century, Ralph Vaughan Williams led an English musical renaissance. Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar, the fathers of English music in the nineteenth century, took their lead from the German masters. Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst took theirs, exceptionally, from the neglected sources of folk song. The result was a distinctive English voice that changed the culture of a nation. After a long struggle to develop his talents, Vaughan Williams established himself as a composer whose music, through his promotion of folk song and editorship of the English Hymnal, made him a household name and caused his work - most famously The Lark Ascending, Greensleeves, the Tallis Fantasia and nine outstanding symphonies - to be loved by generations in Britain and around the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #751920 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Simon Heffer was born in 1960 and educated at King Edward VI School, Chelmsford, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he read English. He is now a political columnist with the Daily Mail and has previously been political editor of The Spectator and deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Customer Reviews

OK as a general introduction for beginners
This is a reasonable introduction to the life and works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. I purchased it with great interest as he is one of my favourite composers but I was a little disappointed as this book didn't tell me a single thing about the composer that I didn't already know.
Maybe I was expecting too much. As a general, unpretentious, survey for those who know little about RVW it is fine but not recommended for the initiated.
The charming photograph of RVW and Foxy, his favourite cat, on the front cover, is something in its favour however!

Getting to know you!
As someone who knew absolutey nothing about him I found this book fascinating. It left me feeling like I really did know Vaughan Williams and what is more that I would want to know him. Surviving the first world war as he did through active service he made me realise just how many great men like him must have perished. A great and informative read and I would recommend it to others on the basis that you learn more about his music and also his life .I am so impressed by his willingness to learn from others, his ability to instill "Englishness" to his music without great pomp and any leaning toward the xenophobic. The lasting impression I have of him is of the great value he placed on his friends his relationships and his enduring sense of duty to humanity through his life and his music and the fact that this did not stifle his creative spirit as he grew older. When I look at the photograph on the front cover of the book now it is like I am seeing an old family friend.

A plausible start
I am in the midst of preparing to teach Vaughan Williams's 5th Symphony as part of the new AQA A2 specification, so am gathering about me as much information on VW as I can.

This book is an excellent, almost novel-like, introduction into the man's life and work. Heffer writes in an accessible style, and the book is coherent and logical in its layout. Not much is spent exploring VW in a musicological manner, and what could be considered major works are referred to somewhat briefly (frustrating when looking for facts on VW5).

That said, let's not belittle it: VW's output is considerable by any composer's standards, and one could argue equally as varied, ranging from church to opera house, taking in symphony hall and drawing room on the way. I shall be recommending it to those students thinking of taking him on for a personal study.