An analysis of the wind scoring techniques of Ralph Vaughan Williams and transcriptions of selected works for various wind media

Abstract

The latter part of the nineteenth century was a relatively uneventful time in English music. However, with the formation of the Royal College of Music, there emerged a new generation of English composers, led by people such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. This study explores Vaughan Williams, with attention given to his background (what led him towards the use of English folk idioms in his composition) as well as analysis of his orchestration, with particular attention to his scoring for winds. Included are transcriptions of O. Clap Your Hands. O Taste and See, and The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune, for brass choir; Five English Folk Songs, for woodwind octet, and Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’ for wind ensemble and harp. Additionally, there is an analysis of the transcriptions, from a scoring standpoint, with specific references to Vaughan Williams’s own wind works.