Ralph Vaughan Williams adored poetry, especially Shakespeare, and was a wonderful exponent of setting it to music. This RVW Society online lecture consisted of a series of readings of poems, and then the broadcast of the relevant musical setting. We had Songs of Travel, the Sea Symphony, the opera Riders to the Storm, Pilgrims Progress, and the Serenade to Music, amongst others. Poetry was by Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Housman, John Bunyan, RL Stevenson, William Barnes, John Skelton, JY Synge, Rossetti, and RVW's second wife, Ursula. It was well done, and although the audio quality was a little sub par, this didn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the lecture. Quite often the words in a setting such as an oratorio or opera can get lost for the listener, focusing as you inevitably are on the glories of the music. Song settings are easier, but nevertheless this event showed how powerful some of these texts can be. The presenter, Andrew Green, tried to suggest parallels between choices of texts and events in RVW's life - the pain of the First World War, or his blossoming romantic relationship with Ursula. I wasn't so sure, but it was interesting all the same.

Lecture originally broadcast on Zoom on 22 June 2023. Watched on YouTube.