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B<\/span>y the time that Vaughan Williams composed his score for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic<\/i>, this story of heroic endeavour had long passed into English mythology \u2013 having failed to be the first team of explorers to reach the South Pole, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his colleagues froze to death on their return journey, just 11 miles short of safety. After completing the music for the film, Vaughan Williams sensed further mileage both in its underlying theme of mankind battling the elements, and in the range of musical ideas he\u2019d already come up with. The result was the five-move<\/span>ment Sinfonia Antartica<\/i> \u2013 the seventh of his nine symphonies, in which he reverted, with old-age mastery, to the free-form, suite-like method he had used in A Sea Symphony<\/i> four decades earlier. A soprano soloist, women\u2019s chorus, organ and wind machine are all part of the orchestral armoury.<\/span><\/p>\n Vaughan Williams <\/strong><\/a><\/strong>composed Symphony No. 7 \u2018Sinfonia Antartica\u2019 between 1949-52, and it premiered on 14 July 1953 at Free Trade Hall. It was performed by Hall\u00e9 Orchestra\/Sir John Barbirolli<\/p>\n The seventh of Vaughan Williams<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s symphonies<\/a><\/strong> is based on the score that he composed in 1947-8 for the Ealing Studios film, Scott of the Antarctic,<\/em> about Captain Robert Scott\u2019s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912.<\/p>\n He wrote much of the music without seeing any of the film because he was so gripped by the subject and by the opportunities for depicting snow and blizzards. He was also dismayed by the incompetence of much of the planning of the expedition.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The film was shown in 1948, and by June 1949, he asked for the score to be returned so that he could get on with what he was already calling Sinfonia Antartica<\/em>. But his work was interrupted by revisions of his long-gestated opera, The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em>, and preparations for its world premiere at Covent Garden in 1951, as part of the celebrations for the Festival of Britain. Shortly afterwards, his wife, Adeline, died.<\/p>\n He was also working on a Concerto Grosso for strings, a cantata<\/a><\/strong>, The Sons of Light,<\/em> with words by Ursula, the Romance<\/em> in D flat for harmonica, strings and piano, written for Larry Adler and the Fantasia on<\/em> the<\/em> \u2018Old 104th\u2019 Psalm Tune<\/em>, for piano, chorus and orchestra<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n For the following year, 1952, a number of concerts were planned to mark the composer\u2019s 80th birthday on 12\u202f October. As a tribute to Vaughan Williams<\/strong><\/a>, Sir John Barbirolli conducted the existing six symphonies during the Hall\u00e9 Orchestra\u2019s 1951-2 season in Manchester.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Vaughan Williams<\/a> took the full score to Manchester in March 1952 to show to Barbirolli, who related later that \u2018Vaughan Williams<\/a> was loath to show it to me, for he feared I might not like it and wanted to spare me the embarrassment of saying so\u2019.<\/p>\n The symphony was played through at sight by the Hall\u00e9 pianist, Rayson Whalley, a feat that amazed the composer. There was another full play-through in November and nine hours of rehearsal. After the first performance, two months later, Vaughan Williams<\/a> declared it to be his \u2018first flawless first performance\u2019 and dubbed Barbirolli \u2018Glorious John\u2019. On the evening before he set off for Manchester for the first performance, Vaughan Williams<\/a> asked Ursula Wood to marry him, which she did on 7 February.<\/p>\n The first performance was a resounding success, and was attended by Scott\u2019s son Peter, the artist and naturalist. Although there was debate about whether Antartica<\/em> was a symphony or a suite of film music, one important critic noted the work\u2019s \u2018masterly and completely unified symphonic form\u2019.<\/p>\n The use of the wind machine and wordless women\u2019s voices to describe the Polar winds and ice, the organ\u2019s climax in the glacier sequence and the depiction of whales and penguins caught the public imagination right from the first.<\/p>\nWhen did Vaughan Williams<\/strong> compose Symphony No. 7 \u2018Sinfonia Antartica\u2019?<\/h2>\n
Other Ventures<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Reception<\/strong><\/h2>\n