Sinfonia Antartica (Vaughan Williams)

Sinfonia Antartica is the 7th symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Related Topics:
Symphony - Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Vaughan Williams provided the music for the film Scott of the Antarctic in 1947, and was inspired by the subject to incorporate much of the music into a symphony. The piece was begun in 1949, the first performance taking place in 1953 in Manchester with John Barbirolli conducting the Hallé Orchestra.

Related Topics:
Scott of the Antarctic - Manchester - John Barbirolli - Hallé Orchestra

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The work is scored for full orchestra, with parts for celeste, piano and organ, and wide range of percussion instruments including a wind machine. There is also a wordless female chorus and solo soprano.

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A typical performance lasts around 45 minutes. There are five movements. The third and fourth are linked, and each movement is preceded in the score with a literary quotation.

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• Prelude: Andante maestoso (quotation from Shelley, Prometheus Unbound)
• * To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite,/ To forgive wrongs darker than death or night,/ To defy power which seems omnipotent,/ Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent:/ This… is to be/ Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free,/ This is alone life, joy, empire and victory.
• Scherzo: Moderato (quotation from Psalm 104)
• * There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein.
• Landscape: Lento (quotation from Coleridge, Hymn before Sunrise, in the vale of Chamouni)
• * Ye ice falls! Ye that from the mountain's brow/ Adown enormous ravines slope amain —/ Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice,/ And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge!/ Motionless torrents! Silent cataracts!
• Intermezzo: Andante sostenuto (quotation from Donne, The Sun Rising)
• * Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime,/ Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
• Epilogue: Alla marcia, moderato (non troppo allegro) (quotation from Captain Scott's Last Journal)
• * I do not regret this journey; we took risks, we knew we took them, things have come out against us, therefore we have no cause for complaint.