The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Clarendon Paperbacks)

The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Michael Kennedy, Oxford University Press, 1964, 416 ff.Whenever I need to look up some details of the life or works of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams there are two books that I turn to - one is this book by Michael Kennedy, who was a close friend of the composer and who is always a reliable source regarding biographies of composers and performers on the English scene in the 20th century. The other sourcebook I use is the biography of the composer by James Day in Dent's Master Musicians series. The biography works through successive periods of the composer's life and there are a few illuminating musical examples along the way to demonstrate points made in the text. Although his melodies often called on those of the first Elizabethan era and of traditional folk songs, his musical structures and harmonies were very much of the 20th century. He wrote nine symphonies but, perhaps because of their length, his best-known compositions are his tone poems, many capturing the atmosphere of the English pastoral scene. There are no appendices to the text and no index, which I find a distinct disadvantage. There is I believe a subsequent edition in 1980 which does have a list of the composer's works and an Index Vaughan Williams (Master Musicians)

A really good book with full of musicaldetails

The best analysis of a great composer`s works that I have ever read.

Kennedy is superb on RVW music. His musical insights seem to me entirely valid; his music examples are apt and concise enough to make their points without overwhelming one in technical detail. His biographical sections are relatively brief but cover a lot of ground in a way that illuminates the life by reference to the work and vice versa; it's a far more focused and effective way of telling a life story than RVW's own wife managed in her companion volume, in my view.Kennedy is, of course, authoritative in many ways: I love the almost-casual way he mentions that 'in a conversation I had with Vaughan WIlliams in the last month of his life...'. The two were firm friends for many years and Kennedy's love for the elder man's work -and indeed for the man himself- is evident on almost every page.I'd give this 5 stars except for two things: one, the printing is awful. The font looks like it is fresh out of the 1920s.And the second is that the 'select list of works' (the much-trumpeted index added to the second edition) is only in chronological order (there is no index by genre, for example). It's also out-of-date and incomplete, given more recent scholarship.Still strongly recommended if you want to know RVW, man and music, better, though.

The book is in a good condition.Unfortunately it did not have the full appendix which gives all the collected works of RVW.Fortunately I have a friend who can let me see his copy which does have the full collected works included.