The story behind The Lark Ascending

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During World War One, Vaughan Williams enlisted to fight (even though he was technically too old) and he spent a difficult two years as a stretcher-bearer on the front line before being appointed as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He saw many of his comrades killed or wounded, and the horrors he experienced would go on to influence his music a great deal. His 4th Symphony, for instance, sounds particularly full of anger and sadness. The Lark Ascending was inspired by a poem of the same name written by George Meredith, which tells the tale of a skylark singing an impossibly beautiful, almost heavenly, song. Vaughan Williams was working on The Lark Ascending in 1914, just as World War I broke out. Although not necessarily directly influenced by the war, this piece became something of a symbol of the English spirit during a time when the country was struggling with its national identity. In 1920, Vaughan Williams revised the piece to the version we now know and it has gone on to become an English classic. It starts relatively low in its range and moves up to really high notes. The violin captures the beautiful song of the skylark, and the melody undulates soaring occasionally to very high notes over the orchestra just like the sound of birdsong. Ascending means going up – maybe this refers to the skylark flying and circling above the earth below or maybe it refers to the song of the skylark soaring to reach high pitches. Who was Ralph Vaughan Williams? Vaughan Williams was born in Gloucestershire into a wealthy, well connected family. His father was a clergyman, his great uncle was biologist Charles Darwin, and writer Bertrand Russell was a regular guest at family parties. 'Raif' began learning piano and organ at a young age but knew from the beginning that his goal was to be a composer. He wrote his first piece aged just 5 and quickly gave up the piano and took up violin instead. He then studied at the Royal College of Music and Cambridge and took private lessons with a series of famous composers including in Germany, Bruch and in France, Ravel. Despite all of this it took him until his 40s to really get going on his own career! Vaughan Williams was a collector of folk songs. He travelled all over England writing down songs sung to him by ordinary people. He 'saved' over 800 songs from extinction and many of these tunes found their way into his music. He has been described as 'the most important English composer of his generation'.

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