Ralph Vaughan Williams and the pastoral mode

Ross, Ryan

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Description

Title

Ralph Vaughan Williams and the pastoral mode

Author(s)

Ross, Ryan

Issue Date

2012-06-27T21:27:59Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Magee, Gayle Sherwood

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Sherwood Magee, Gayle

Committee Member(s)

• Bashford, Christina
• Kinderman, William A.
• Temperley, Nicholas

Department of Study

Music

Discipline

Musicology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Ralph Vaughan Williams
• English Music
• pastoral
• 20th Century Music

Abstract

The music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) has often been associated with a pastoral mode of expression. While scholars have begun exploring this relationship in projects of limited focus, an extended study has not yet been undertaken. This dissertation is the first such study. It examines ways in which Vaughan Williams and his music have demonstrable points of contact with the pastoral mode, emphasizing the role that literature and personal experience played in influencing this part of his imagination. The first chapter explores the term “pastoral” itself, its use in Western literature and music, and how all of these factors relate to Vaughan Williams and English culture. Subsequent chapters consider a selection of the composer’s activities, convictions, and compositions, and discuss them in light of significant pastoral influences. Through such case studies, this dissertation demonstrates that Vaughan Williams’s use of the pastoral mode was not only more complex and multi-layered than has previously been understood, but it was also a major attribute of his originality and a key ingredient in his artistic engagement with the contemporary world.

Graduation Semester

2012-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/32012

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Ryan Ross

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