Vaughan Williams’ Fifth Symphony

The concert was broadcasted live in Swedish Radio P2 and on Berwaldhallen play Friday May 29 at 7 pm.

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle in 1685, but we usually think of him as an English composer. Handel first entered the British music scene at the age of 25 and worked at an almost feverish tempo throughout his extensive career. Composer, teacher, organist, harpsichordist, impresario, theatre manager and businessman all belong on Handel’s CV and in time, he became a very successful musician.

Early on, Handel was favoured by the court and the aristocracy. As early as 1710, the Elector of Hanover hired Handel as Kapellmeister, the same man who later became King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. King George also appointed Handel court composer and by 1727, he was made a citizen of Great Britain. The king passed away later the same year and Handel was given the prestigious task of writing music for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline.

The coronation ceremony took place in October 1727 at Westminster Abbey, and according to witnesses, Handel had great musical forces at his disposal: close to 50 singers and 160 players. The Coronation Anthems, four in total, sound festive and magnificent with plenty of trumpet fanfares and jubilant choral parts that are tempered by more formal, courtly sections that highlight the dignity of the occasion. The anthems became popular during Handel’s life and he reused parts of them in several of his oratorios.

If Handel is an example of a naturalised Englishman, Ralph Vaughan Williams was about as English as one can imagine. He was born in Gloucestershire in South England and studied at the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge. Many still think of him as the most typically English of the country’s many composers, possibly because of the prominence in Vaughan Williams’ music of the idyllic and romantic idiom often associated with English music.

This pastoral, idyllic element also plays an important role in his fifth symphony, which he started sketching out right before the start of the Second World War. The symphony’s often peaceful, calming atmosphere is however not to be taken for a lack of depth or sophistication. In spite of the relatively limited forces required, Vaughan Williams has created a symphony that contains both compact passion and magnificent, rich musical colours.

The fifth symphony premiered in 1943 during the Proms festival in London, conducted by the composer himself, and was a great success. He later dedicated the symphony to Jean Sibelius. Much point to the fact that, among his nine symphonies, the fifth had a special place in Vaughan Williams’ heart. In advance of a concert commemorating his 80th birthday, Vaughan Williams was asked which symphony he wanted performed, and picked the fifth.

Vaughan Williams’ music fascinated English violinist and conductor Andrew Manze early in his career. Manze has since performed many of his works with several orchestras in Europe and the United States. He has also recently finished recording a critically acclaimed cycle of the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Together with the Swedish Radio Choir he will also perform a choral piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams: Rest, a setting of a poem by 19th century poet Christina Rossetti, also famous for pieces like In the Bleak Midwinter and Love Came Down at Christmas

Axel Lindhe

Approximate duration: 1 hr 40 mins