Ralph Vaughan Williams
(English; 1872-1958)

A London Symphony
I. Lento - Allegro risoluto
II. Lento
III. Scherzo (Nocturne)
IV. Finale - Andante con moto - Maestoso alla marcia - Allegro - Lento - Epilogue

Composed 1914/1936; Duration 43 minutes

For Vaughan Williams, “many young composers make the mistake of imagining that they can be universal without first having been local.” Good advice from an experienced Vaughan Williams who wrote this in 1930, reflecting on his early successes. Through the study of English folk song and hymns and participation in the rich tradition of British choral music, he cultivated a new symphonic voice that was distinctly British, breaking the longstanding German influence. 

It is also worth mentioning that he studied briefly with Maurice Ravel until 1908, who remarked that Vaughan Williams “was my only pupil who did not write my music.” Although originally from southern England, he settled in his adoptive home of London, and now in his late thirties, flourished socially with fellow composers while submitting works like Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and A Sea Symphony to various festivals in 1910. The same year, his friend George Butterworth convinced him to write a symphony, which would become A London Symphony.

Sometimes referred to as his second symphony, he suggested that it may have been titled “Symphony by a Londoner,” implying the work as purely symphonic. Regardless, he described certain programmatic elements, such as Big Ben’s chimes heard in the opening movement, played by the harp after a delicate chorale. The Lento grows into a more rambunctious Allegro risoluto, which is meant to evoke "Hampstead Heath on an August Bank Holiday." Londoners pack into the park to enjoy the rolling green hills, just removed from the city, during a summer day off.

Sometimes referred to as his second symphony, he suggested that it may have been titled “Symphony by a Londoner,” implying the work as purely symphonic. Regardless, he described certain programmatic elements, such as Big Ben’s chimes heard in the opening movement, played by the harp after a delicate chorale. The Lento grows into a more rambunctious Allegro risoluto, which is meant to evoke "Hampstead Heath on an August Bank Holiday." Londoners pack into the park to enjoy the rolling green hills, just removed from the city, during a summer day off.

The second movement has a distinctly overcast mood, generated by lonesome melodies that verge toward Tudor folksong. The lively scherzo, on the other hand, Vaughan Williams implores the listener to “imagine standing on the Westminster Embankment at night, the distant sounds of the Strand with its hotels on one side and the ‘New Cut’ on the other.” VW’s sonic scene overlays the Strand’s affluent hubbub with the working-class night markets in the Cut opposite the Thames.

A yearning outburst sets forth the finale that collapses into an elegiac march. The chaotic urban scene is again interrupted by Big Ben’s chimes. 

The work premiered in 1914, just months before British involvement in the First World War. Vaughan Williams patriotically volunteered as a stretcher bearer, but many of his peers, including George Butterworth, tragically perished. The London Symphony concludes with an auspicious epilogue that withdraws into foggy uncertainty.

Chaz Stuart, 2026