Ralph
Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 3, A
Pastoral Symphony is a greatly misunderstood work, many taking the title
quite literally rather than understanding its true purpose. Today, let’s
continue our chat about music inspired by WWI by looking at this moving
symphony.
Vaughan
Williams wrote his “Pastoral” Symphony in 1922. While many believe it relates
to the English landscape, providing peace and rest to the listener, it is
actually quite the opposite. Vaughan Williams uses his Third Symphony to depict
the terrain of the WWI battlefields and writes in a way that causes his
listeners to confront loss and death, remembering those who have found eternal
rest. The symphony is unique in that each movement is slow. Vaughan Williams
frequently changes the tonal center, causing his audience to feel emotionally
unsettled.
Below
you can listen to this symphony. Listen especially in the second movement
during which a trumpet cadenza depicts a bugler that the composer heard
practicing during the war:
