Ralph Vaughan Williams and the pastoral mode

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

Ross, Ryan

关键词: Ralph Vaughan Williams;    English Music;    pastoral;    20th Century Music;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/32012/Ross_Ryan.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

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.