Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Editorial Conventions
- Abbreviations
- Prologue
- 1 First Encounters and A Sea Symphony
- 2 A London Symphony
- 3 A Pastoral Symphony and Boult on Conducting in the 1920s
- 4 Job: ‘To Adrian Boult’
- 5 Symphony No. 4 in F Minor
- 6 Wartime Tensions
- 7 Symphony No. 5 in D Major
- 8 Symphony No. 6 in E Minor
- 9 Sinfonia antartica and the Last Two Symphonies
- 10 Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Other Orchestral Works
- 11 Choral and Vocal Works
- 12 Vaughan Williams, Boult and The Pilgrim’s Progress
- Appendix 1 Annotations on Boult’s Working Scores
- Appendix 2 Boult’s Vaughan Williams Performances – A Chronology
- Appendix 3 Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Symphony No. 5 in D Major
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Editorial Conventions
- Abbreviations
- Prologue
- 1 First Encounters and A Sea Symphony
- 2 A London Symphony
- 3 A Pastoral Symphony and Boult on Conducting in the 1920s
- 4 Job: ‘To Adrian Boult’
- 5 Symphony No. 4 in F Minor
- 6 Wartime Tensions
- 7 Symphony No. 5 in D Major
- 8 Symphony No. 6 in E Minor
- 9 Sinfonia antartica and the Last Two Symphonies
- 10 Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Other Orchestral Works
- 11 Choral and Vocal Works
- 12 Vaughan Williams, Boult and The Pilgrim’s Progress
- Appendix 1 Annotations on Boult’s Working Scores
- Appendix 2 Boult’s Vaughan Williams Performances – A Chronology
- Appendix 3 Discography
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Vaughan Williams composed his Symphony No. 5 in D major between 1938 and 1943, and conducted the premiere on 24 June 1943, at a Promenade Concert in the Royal Albert Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The first recording was made by John Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra on 17 February 1944, though Barbirolli had little contact with Vaughan Williams at the time: their close friendship developed a few years later.
Boult’s involvement with the symphony started several months before its first public performance. He wrote to Vaughan Williams on 11 February 1943:
May I just confirm what I said about rehearsing the new Symphony. We should be most happy to put aside half a rehearsal as soon as you like to go through the work and enable you to test parts, etc. The rehearsal could be taken by you, Sir Henry [Wood], [Clarence] Ray-bould or myself, as you wish and according to what is decided about the Proms. I think there will be a very strong feeling that you should conduct it yourself when the first performance comes.
Vaughan Williams replied on 15 February, thanking Boult for his ‘most kind’ offer but noting that the piece wouldn’t be ready ‘for some time yet because the orchestration has got to be revised and then the parts copied’. Work began on copying the parts in March 1943 and, on 1 May, Vaughan Williams was able to make firm arrangements with Boult:
At last with great difficulty I have had the parts copied and they will be ready by next week – does your offer still hold good? It seems curmudgeonly, but I had better tell you the days on which I am not free – any other day I would of course come with stones in my shoes if necessary – the unfree dates for me are May 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, June 4.
Less than a week later, matters were settled. Vaughan Williams wrote to Gwen Beckett, Boult’s secretary, on 6 May:
Thank you for your letter containing Sir Adrian’s very kind message – May 25 (Tuesday) at Maida Vale will suit me admirably, either morning or afternoon, whichever suits Sir Adrian best.
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- Ralph Vaughan Williams and Adrian Boult , pp. 107 - 122Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022