“I suppose it never occurs to people that a man might just want to write a piece of music.” Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Vaughan Williams is famous for his invigorating nautical symphonies, breath-taking songs, dreamy yet visually powerful concertos, as well as his rousing, majestic choral music. Browse our sheet music and scores, take a look at our Vaughan Williams Sheet Music Downloads, and explore the wide world of Vaughan Williams today!
His work is particularly important due to his intense preoccupation with the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as the collection and publication of English folk songs, which significantly influenced his work, and played a big role in the revival of English classical music at the turn of the century.
His best known songs are the Songs of Travel based on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1907. With A Sea Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ first symphony saw its premier in 1910, which laid the foundations for English symphony in the 20th century.
His most popular works include Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis for two string orchestras (1910) and The Lark Ascending for violin and small orchestra (1914). When asked about “The Lark Ascending” his second wife Ursula said: “He took a literary idea on which he based his musical thoughts... and let the violin become both the song and the flight of the bird, instead of simply illustrating the poem from which the title was taken.”
Vaughan Williams was also a prolific Film Music composer, and his 7th symphony, the Sinfonia Antartica, was inspired by his film score for “Scott of the Antarctic”.
Alongside his musical talents, Vaughan Williams also had a keen sense of humour. The title quote “It never seems to occur to people that a man might just want to write a piece of music” was Williams’ answer to the question of whether his music for the 6th Symphony was meant to be programmatic.
When questioned by a musician in a rehearsal for his Symphony No. 4 in F Minor about a note which seemed relatively dissonant, Vaughan Williams replied: “It looks wrong, and it sounds wrong, but it’s right. I don’t know if I like it, but that’s what I meant.”
Vaughan Williams when discussing Richard Wagner and his operas: “Wagner used to read the libretti of his operas to his friends; I am glad I was not there.”
And of opera and its overtures, Vaughan Williams said: “The audience is requested not to refrain from talking during the overture. Otherwise they will know all the tunes before the opera begins.”
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 913353
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1192874
Sonderband
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 689799
Transcription for Organ
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 684167
for: Mixed choir (SABar) a cappella
Choir score
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English Traditional
for: SSA, Piano
Choir score
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for orchestra score and set of parts (incl. 4-4-3-4-2 strings)
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Score, Parts
Item no.: 605069
Boosey and Hawkes Concert Band
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 191802
for: Soloist (baritone), mixed choir (SATB), organ [piano]; cello ad lib.
Single part (Cello solo)
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form "A Garland for the Queen"
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 474303
Part song adapted from an old Air
Mit Klavierbegleitung zu Übungszwecken
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 430475
for: Cello, piano
Single part Cello
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General
for: 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, organ, timpani
Organ score, Parts
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SATB unaccompanied or solo unison and piano
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 929427
No. 2 of Three Elizabethan Part Songs. Text from Shakespeare’s Othello
for: Mixed choir (SATB); piano ad lib.
Choir score
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for: Cello, piano
Single part Cello
Item no.: 1645578
No. 1 of "Three Elizabethan Part Songs"
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 932300
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