The Lark Ascending:

Romance for Violin and Orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

This meditative piece was written in 1914. With the onset of the Great War, Vaughan Williams was soon to enlist as an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and composition and premières were on hold for the duration.

The piece takes its name from the title of a poem by George Meredith and the following quotation heads the score:-

The Lark Ascending

He rises and begins to round,

He drops the silver chain of sound,

Of many links without a break,

In chirrup whistle, slur and shake.

For singing till his heaven fills,

‘Tis love of earth that he instils,

And ever winging up and up,

Our valley is his golden cup,

And he the wine which overflows

To lift us with him as he goes.

Till lost on his aerial rings

In light, and the fancy sings.

George Meredith (1828-1909)

The composer left no programme note to accompany his work,

but it is not difficult to allow one’s mind to

wander when listening to or writing about the music.

It is redolent of the English countryside,

especially the wide open hills of

Vaughan Williams’ native Cotswold landscape.