Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was one of the most prolific British composers of the twentieth century, yet his operas are virtually unknown in the standard operatic repertoire. Singers and teachers of singing are often challenged in finding operatic arias composed in the English language, because the standard operatic repertoire simply does not have as many works originally written in English as are found in Italian, German, or French. If there are arias from Vaughan Williams’ operas that are accessible to the young singing voice, they should not remain unknown. This study was executed in hopes of identifying for singers and teachers of singing, the arias, duets and scenes for male voice that can stand alone outside performances of the operas. The implications of this research project are that singers and teachers of singing have a newly found wealth of repertoire to utilize in performance as well as in the learning environment. Not only are these findings beautiful music from one of the twentieth century’s most prominent composers, but they are perhaps more importantly, accessible to the young and developing singer.

The harmony of Vaughan Williams defies classification in terms of traditional harmony alone, making use as it does at times, of structures of superposed fourths, so-called "added-note" chords, and random sonorities, as will appear. Therefore, the chords will be placed into two principal categories of usage, traditional and non-traditional.

This examination of Ralph Vaughan Williams' song cycle to poetry of Alfred Edward Housman, "On Wenlock Edge," will follow primarily two avenues of approach. First, following a brief biographical sketch of Vaughan Williams' career prior to the composition of "On Wenlock Edge," will be a discussion of Vaughan Williams' and Housman's respective aesthetic philosophies. In order to lay the background for certain salient characteristics of this cycle, parallels as well as differences in their artistic thinking will be explained. Secondly, a poetic analysis will precede the musical analysis of each song in order to differentiate between the original intent of the poet and the interpretation of the poetry by Vaughan Williams.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was one of the important English art song composers in the Twentieth century. His Ten Blake Songs for voice and oboe, composed in 1957, was commissioned for the documentary film The Vision of William Blake, which commemorated the bicentenary birth of the poet, William Blake (1757-1827). Ten poems were selected from Blake¡¦s Songs of Innocence and Experience as well as Notebook: Manuscripts by Williams, and were later collected, composed, and published in the name of Ten Blake Songs. In this song collection, Ralph Vaughan Williams used a variety of styles and composition techniques, which demonstrated his maturity and sophistication in composing English art songs in his later years. This study is consist of six parts, including the biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the characteristics of Vaughan Williams¡¦ art songs, the biography of William Blake, introduction of Songs of Innocence and Experience, the composition background of Ten Blake Songs, and the analysis as well as interpretation of these songs. Through analyzing these songs, the author wishes to explores the multiple approaches Ralph Vaughan Williams took in composing the music and enhancing the poetry written by the great eighteenth-century poet, William Blake, as well as to provide references for performers to further enhance the breadth and depth in their performance.

The brass band and wind band had similar repertoires in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with marches, dances, solos, and transcriptions written prominently for both ensembles. The repertoires diverged at the beginning of the twentieth century as brass band contests commissioned new and original works and international composers began writing serious works for wind band. In the 1970s, British composer Philip Sparke succeeded in writing music for both ensembles and subsequently began to create a shared repertoire, and other composers started contributing to this repertoire. As this repertoire has proliferated, much of it has become worthy of serious study. The purpose of the current study is to find shared scoring tendencies between three transcriptions: one written by the original composer; a second transcribed by a different composer; and a third transcribed by both the original composer and a different composer. The works selected were The Year of the Dragon by Philip Sparke (transcribed by the composer), Variations for Brass Band by Ralph Vaughan Williams (transcribed by Donald Hunsberger), and Call of the Cossacks by Peter Graham (transcribed by the composer and Mick Dowrick). There were several effective instrumentation choices the works shared, including woodwind prominence in solo and lyrical passages, double reeds substituting for small brass ensembles, and high woodwinds written one or more octaves above the original. Adapting these choices, the author created a transcription of Gypsy Dream, the second movement of Call of the Cossacks. Further, these commonalities can serve as guidelines for other transcribers to arrange brass band works for wind band and expand this shared repertoire.

The focus of this study is to provide a clear understanding of Vaughan Williams' Violin Concerto in D Minor. In terms of form and compositional technique, this concerto is particularly challenging, because of Vaughan Williams' use of rhythmic motives and modes. This study is undertaken through an analysis. For a better understanding, a historical background, including overall form of each movement and key relationships, is explored and discussed. Then, Vaughan Williams' use of a ritornello-like motive, melody and modality as unifying elements is also identified and examined. In identifying the major features of Vaughan Williams' compositional style of this violin concerto, musicians will be able to understand better his unique musical expression. This study may serve as an introduction to the music of Vaughan Williams for musicians and society worldwide. It is hoped that it will motivate all violinists to perform this concerto more frequently.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This document is comprised of research and analysis of the comprehensive examination of the graduate conducting recital of Luke D. Johnson. This recital was performed by the Lansing High School Wind Ensemble on February 24, 2008 at McCain Auditorium in Manhattan, KS, and again on February 25, 2008 at Lansing High School in Lansing, KS. The examined repertoire for these recitals includes Mother Earth by David Maslanka, English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughn Williams, Symphony #1 In Memoriam Dresden – 1945 by Daniel Bukvich, and Concertino for Solo Clarinet with Band Accompaniment by Carl Maria Von Weber, OP. 26. This document contains theoretical and historical analysis and outlines the methods of planning and preparing a graduate conducting recital according to the Blocher/Miles and Tracz formats.

Members of the second generation of the English Musical Renaissance have long been associated with a break from the Teutonic influence of their predecessors to create a musical idiom that is quintessentially English. Scholarship has long looked at these composers, who include those born between Vaughan Williams and Moeran, in isolation from the artistic movements and political and social issues of Europe, when in fact they were part of them. This thesis places these composers within these currents by discussing them as part of England’s Lost Generation and within the historical contexts of Europe in the early twentieth century. Though the Lost Generation is often associated with the post-war period, I propose that the phenomenon existed prior to World War I by focussing on England’s aesthetic lostness in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. The Lost Generation of composers inherited a musical culture that had been aesthetically lost for two hundred years and rebelled against it to define a musical idiom that was quintessentially English. After placing the second generation of the English Musical Renaissance within its historical contexts, I call into question previous discussions on English music that define it according to single definitions largely associated with the Pastoral School or the Folk School. Instead, I propose that the music of this generation was stylistically diverse while simultaneously a manifestation of common cultural influences, ultimately rooted in the goal of creating a sense of community. To support this claim, I discuss the various stylistic techniques of individual composers within their collective cultural influences, including the music of England’s past, the landscape, and English literature. Furthermore, I explore the role of musical community, both as a central goal in the creation of a national idiom and as a source of compositional inspiration. By examining the influences and compositional styles of these composers, I conclude that the music of this generation broke from Continental influences by developing a national idiom that was both stylistically unique to the individual composer and tied to common cultural influences that were rooted in the goal of creating a musical community within England. . / Graduate

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The purpose of this study is to examine three works for the unusual combination of violin and voice. Chamber music for violin and keyboard and violin and other instruments has been extant since the Baroque period. However, three English composers found a unique chamber grouping in the first decades of the twentieth century: Gustav Holst (1874-1934), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) each wrote works for violin and voice. Holst's Four Songs for Voice and Violin, Op. 35 (1917), Vaughan Williams' Along the Field, Eight Housman Songs for Voice and Violin (1927, revised 1954), and Clarke's Three Old English Songs (1924) each utilize the combination of violin and voice. The violin in each is not relegated to accompaniment but is instead a true partner. This study will investigate these works. A history of each composition will be chronicled. An analytical discussion of formal organization and significant style features will include consideration of the musical structure, harmonic language, and the use of text in select movements of each work. Finally, performance suggestions pertaining to technical and artistic issues offer specific recommendations as an aid in performance preparation. In order to provide historical and musical context, a brief overview of Late Romantic and early Twentieth-Century chamber music with strings and voice will be given. This overview will help to illuminate the uniqueness of the pairing of violin and voice. Discovery of the works discussed here makes possible an expanded repertoire of good music for both violinists and vocalists. It is also hoped that through the performance of these works a spark might be set with composers to create more pieces for this most intimate of duos.