One of Vaughan Williams’s major sources of inspiration traditional English folksong, in which the pentatonic scale (playable on the black keys of the piano) was prominent.  Like Claude Debussy before him and Béla Bartók around the same time, Vaughan Williams discovered entirely new possibilities in this age-old scale.  The entire melodic material of his pastoral idyll The Lark Ascending for violin and orchestra, is based on this set of pitches.

After only two measures of introduction, the solo violin, impersonating the lark, launches into a long unaccompanied cadenza (the work will end similarly, with the violin playing alone).  Everything in between, including a slightly faster-moving dance episode, is gentle and pastoral in character.  The size of the orchestra is reduced for the sake of a lighter, more lyrical sound.

The printed score to The Lark Ascending includes the following motto by English poet George Meredith (1828-1909):

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 instills,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup,
And he the wine that overflows
To lift us with him as he goes. 

Till lost on his aërial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.

Notes By Peter Laki