Ralph Vaughan Williams: The First Nowell: Men's Choir: Vocal Score

This is the first publication of Ralph Vaughan Williams's early work for orchestra Bucolic Suite which was completed in November 1900 and first performed by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in March 1902. This attractive work is cast in four movements - Allegro Andante Intermezzo Finale - and already shows evidence of the composer's emerging musical style and sure grasp of orchestral techniques. This new edition has been carefully prepared from the original manuscript by Julian Rushton and comes with full textual commentary. This publication will be welcomed by all aficionados of Vaughan Williams's music.

Marking the first publication of an early work for chamber orchestra this study score presents Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Solent composed in 1903. The main theme from this work will be recognisable to many listeners as it later found its way into both the Sea Symphony and the Ninth Symphony albeit in a somewhat altered form. This duplication has intrigued many Vaughan Williams' scholars as has the Philip Marston quotation that prefaces the scores: 'Passion and sorrow in the deep sea's voice A mighty mystery saddening all the wind?'.The score has been edited by James Francis Brown and includes an introduction by theeditor.

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer of symphonies chamber music opera choral music and film scores. At his death he left an unfinished Cello Concerto an opera Thomas the Rhymer and music for a Christmas play The First Nowell which was completed by his amanuensis Roy Douglas. The First Nowell has been here arranged for Male Voices specifically TBARB. In Nine Carols For Male Voices (Carol IV).

New Edition Score-In its sublime beauty and inspired writing for strings Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis remains one of Ralph Vaughan Williams' greatest works and his first indisputable masterpiece.This newedition contains practical revisions and editorial corrections using the composer's autograph manuscript and the first published edition as sources.

20th century English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is perhaps best known for his symphonies and large-scale choral works however the essence of his music can also be found in his songs. His 1903 House of Life cyclefeatures 6 songs out of which the most famous one is the second Silent Noon. Composed before the rest of the cycle and first published separately this piece in E-flat major for Voice and Piano can easilystand alone. By using the sonnet of renowned 19th century English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti Williams celebrates the beauty of the English language and advances toward the true 20th century Englishart song. All of the songs in House of Life are written for sonnets from Rossetti?s sonnet-sequence of the same name and thus the continuity of the cycle is enforced both by the music and the lyrics. At the same time thesimilarity given by the strict rules of the Petrarchan sonnet-form emphasises the differences in mood meaning and music between the six songs. Even though the (male) narrator in Silent Noon is optimistic andhopeful some of the variations in the passages suggest the despairing of love in Song 6 (?Love?s Last Gift?) which gives this piece an interesting lyrical atmosphere.

Even for Ralph Vaughan Williams the prospect of two world premieres within 24 hours must have been something of a rarity. Such was the case however on the first two days of June 1953, when his now classic arrangement of The Old Hundredth Psalm was sung at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, being preceded the evening before by the premiere of 'Silence and Music', fourth of ten partsongs of A Garland for the Queen, commissioned from leading British composers by the Arts Council of Great Britain to honour the new monarch. Long unavailable except as separate items from individual publishers, this historic collectionis now reissued complete by Stainer & Bell in its original single-volume format, allowing conductors and singers to choose from a rich collection of choral music with which to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and, in 2013, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation itself. In addition to VW's contribution, A Garland for the Queen includes important settings by Bax, Berkeley, Bliss, Finzi, Howells, Ireland, Rawsthorne, Rubbra and Tippett. The collection moreover draws on the work of poets whose names likewise feature prominently in the annals of mid-century British literary talent: Clifford Bax, Edmund Blunden, Paul Dehn, Christopher Fry, Christopher Hassall, James Kirkup, Louis MacNeice, Walter de la Mare, Henry Reed and Ursula Wood. Intended as a counterpart to The Triumphs of Oriana of 1601, the celebrated madrigal volume published in praise of Elizabeth I by Thomas Morley, A Garland for the Queen emulates its distinguished predecessor in its variety of moods and vocal combinations. There is material here to fit every aspect of celebration, from the airy five-part ensemble of Bax's 'What is it like to be young and fair?', and the soprano solo with SATB of Rawsthorne's Canzonet, to the lustrous contrasting of male and female timbres in Bliss's Aubade, and the rapturous eight-part setting of/ Recueil / Voix Mixtes

Vaughan Williams began this work - his earliest known piece for a solo instrument with orchestra - in 1896 shortly after returning to the Royal College of Music to study composition with Stanford and completed it in 1904. After his death the manuscript was donated to the British Library and it was here that the pianist Mark Bebbington rediscovered it in 2010 subsequently recording it for Somm Records. The work shows influences of late nineteenth-century composers but also hallmarks of Vaughan Williams's later style and maturity. As such it offers a fascinating glimpse into the composer's development as well as being a powerful work in its own right. This isits first publication; a reduction for two pianos is also available on sale. Orchestral material is available on hire/rental.

Published for the very first time this is a beautiful arrangement of the old German tune Lasst uns das Kindlein Wiegan setting words adapted from an old Scots poem by Ursula Wood (who later married Vaughan Williams). With flowing contrapuntal lines and characteristic harmonies O My Dear Heart will be popular with all upper-voice choirs. Arranged for SSSAAA a cappella but a Piano accompaniment is provided for practice purposes.