11 - Choral and Vocal Works

Summary

Boult conducted most of Vaughan Williams’s choral-orchestral works but only a few of the full scores are to be found in his library: for many years, works such as Sancta civitas, Five Tudor Portraits, the Five Mystical Songs, the Magnificat, the Benedicite and Thanksgiving for Victory were only available on hire, and Boult was always scrupulous about returning those scores to the publisher. He made commercial recordings of Dona nobis pacem, Flos campi, the Serenade to Music, Thanksgiving for Victory and Toward the Unknown Region but only broadcast performances survive of major works such as Sancta civitas, Five Tudor Portraits and the orchestral version of On Wenlock Edge. While the evidence for how Boult performed these pieces is sometimes limited, this chapter aims to present such information as it has been possible to assemble about his involvement with some of Vaughan Williams’s major choral and vocal works.

Benedicite

The Benedicite was composed for the twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations of the Leith Hill Festival in 1930 and first performed in Dorking on 2 May 1930, conducted by the composer. One of Vaughan Williams’s most jubilant shorter choral works (particularly in its outer sections), it was soon taken up by Boult, starting with the Petersfield Musical Festival in April 1931 and then, on 28 July 1931, at the Ninth Annual ISCM Festival held that year in Oxford and London. It was the final item in the closing concert at Queen’s Hall and Vaughan Williams wrote beforehand: ‘I believe you are kindly conducting my Benedicite at the Freak Festival on the 28th. Could you spare me a few minutes before the date to discuss tempi?’2 Boult went on to conduct it several more times, including performances at Gregynog and the Proms, as well as a broadcast to celebrate Vaughan Williams’s seventieth birthday. Boult’s last known performance of the Benedicite was in 1950 and no recording by him is known to survive. There is no full score in Boult’s library (it was published for the first time in 1970).

Performances

Dona Nobis Pacem

Boult considered Dona nobis pacem to be underrated, though he gave very few performances of it. In his 1966 interview with Robert Layton, he said: ‘I know that there are certain works which I should like to hear more: Dona nobis pacem is one. It’s very much neglected, I think. ‘