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Dates: b. 1872 / d. 1958

Nationality: British

Period: 20th Century

Genre: Programme music / concerto

Key Musical Elements:

• Pitch
• Melodic Shape

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English 20th Century composer who wrote symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral pieces, and film scores. This guide provides ideas for exploring his piece The Lark Ascending in class:

• Two creative films with Mollly Rainford
• A performance from the ���˿��� Philharmonic and soloist Nicola Benedetti
• Lesson plans
• MP3 Downloads
• Instrumental arrangements

Resources available for:

• EYFS, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 - England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Early years (P1- P4), Second Level (P5-P7), Third and Fourth Level (S1-S3) - Scotland

The story behind The Lark Ascending

During World War One, Vaughan Williams enlisted to fight (even though he was technically too old) and he spent a difficult two years as a stretcher-bearer on the front line before being appointed as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery.

He saw many of his comrades killed or wounded, and the horrors he experienced would go on to influence his music a great deal.

His 4th Symphony, for instance, sounds particularly full of anger and sadness.

The Lark Ascending was inspired by a poem of the same name written by George Meredith, which tells the tale of a skylark singing an impossibly beautiful, almost heavenly, song.

Vaughan Williams was working on The Lark Ascending in 1914, just as World War I broke out.

He was on holiday in Margate when a young boy spotted him making notes and thought he was writing a secret code, so he informed a police officer and the composer was temporarily arrested in case he was a German spy!

Although not necessarily directly influenced by the war, this piece became something of a symbol of the English spirit during a time when the country was struggling with its national identity.

In 1920, Vaughan Williams revised the piece to the version we now know and it has gone on to become one of the country's favourite classical pieces.

Listen out for: The romantic, soaring violin solo with reflects the skylark of George Meredith's poem.

It starts relatively low in its range and moves up to really high notes. The violin captures the beautiful song of the skylark, and the melody undulates soaring occasionally to very high notes over the orchestra just like the sound of birdsong. Ascending means going up – maybe this refers to the skylark flying and circling above the earth below or maybe it refers to the song of the skylark soaring to reach high pitches.

Who was Ralph Vaughan Williams?

Vaughan Williams was born in Gloucestershire into a wealthy, well connected family. His father was a clergyman, his great uncle was biologist Charles Darwin, and writer Bertrand Russell was a regular guest at family parties.

'Raif' began learning piano and organ at a young age but knew from the beginning that his goal was to be a composer. He wrote his first piece aged just 5 and quickly gave up the piano and took up violin instead.

He then studied at the Royal College of Music and Cambridge and took private lessons with a series of famous composers including in Germany, Bruch and in France, Ravel.

Despite all of this it took him until his 40s to really get going on his own career!

Vaughan Williams was a collector of folk songs. He travelled all over England writing down songs sung to him by ordinary people.

He 'saved' over 800 songs from extinction and many of these tunes found their way into his music.

He's been described as 'the most important English composer of his generation'.

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Lesson plans and resources

Primary resources for:

Key Stage 2 in England and Wales;
Key Stage 1/Key Stage 2 in Northern Ireland;
Second Level, P5-P7 in Scotland

Vaughan Williams

Lark Ascending

Secondary lesson plans and resources for:

Key Stage 3 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland;
Third and Fourth Level, S1-S3 in Scotland

The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams

• by Keith Ayling
• by Ann Barkway

MP3 music downloads

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