Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis HQ
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ย. 2024
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis at Gloucester Cathedral, where in 1910, it was played and conducted for the first time by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
This is possibly the finest ever performance of this most beautiful piece.
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Makes me think of a old way of life,a very pastoral theme,green fields,meadows and pastures,very English,this music just moves me to tears ❤❤
Me too! Every time I hear it! This brings to mind
a very English countryside 💕🇬🇧🙋♀️🙋♀️ and I’m so glad
to be a part of it…….in fact, just a short drive away from
green fields, sheep, cows, beautiful trees and landscapes ❤
AND Worcester Cathedral 😊……..just sublime 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️
Yet there are moments of such devastation in this that, although composed in 1910, they seem to foreshadow how Vaughan Williams felt as a result of being a stretcher bearer in World War I and losing so many friends in that meaningless conflict. His concluding affirmation at the end -- despite this sorrow --is especially moving.
You are not alone! If England has a musical soundtrack I think this might be it. I don’t know why or hoed it affects us ( and there are a great many of us) the way it does; but it does. The only other piece of music that produces a similar reaction is Parry’s version of Jerusalem.
Agreed wholeheartedly. It affects me in the exact same way as it did the first time I ever heard it. As one comment says this is THE version.
Otherworldly.
@@cathyschaffter5843 Well said, Cathy.
This isn’t just music - it’s a ticket to somewhere else. Whatever you believe in there’s something magical in this that transcends us all.✨
I agree.r.v.w was so brilliant
God - through the Trinity - through Vaughan-Williams - through you - through Christ - and back again
☝🏼
in 1959 I was 4 and I had a life changing experience because of this piece of music. I had been asleep in my bed but woke up suddenly. My parents were playing this album on their old record player. I had never heard anything like it before and it literally took my breath away. It's never been something I could put into words, but it was if it were so completely a part of every cell in my body it killed the old me. I lay there inbetween the old and the new and then it brought me back to life in a different way, as though all my cells were laced with bits of gold. thats overly dramatic but I was four and that is how I remember it, to this day. That I was simply never the same after. I lay in that bed and sobbed such a deep painful sob, as if the music had given me memory of a place I had come from, as if I had a foot in two worlds. It's just true. I'll never forget it.
Beautiful soul.
Me as well.
I don't know for certain, but you may have helped me out without knowing when that happened, due to an event that then happened to me at age 4 in approx 1991-1992...
If I've nailed it (and it's too hard to explain here), then that event basically allowed the eventual healing of my 4 year old self who had no idea at the time what had happened when I experienced a symbolic bereavement that then wasn't dealt with properly by the adults around me to help me through it at all....I had to carry it myself, but I eventually healed it in the end. And that may well have been down to your event paving the way for it...
Bless you, had that same experience at 3 when parents put on incantations by Mike old field- nearly 40 now and still get a reminder of that feeling everytime I hear it xx
@@captainwilliammorgansantim5629 . Your name intrigues me. I lived in Morganville, NY as a kid and was obsessed with the rumors about William. There was a dynamited cave entrance in the gully and it was rumored William Morgan had been buried there. It was an area rich with history and rumor.
Our beloved Son, 1987 - 2015. I come to this masterpiece for comfort, for a sense of profound other purpose than my day to day loss.
Though his body be no more, his soul is alive in your memory and this beautifuly haunting melody. The star that shines brightest. Forever and always.
@@mitch2620 That's just wonderful Lev, I do hope it gave Jeanne some comfort. I'm sure it did,
I was a caregiver to my late wife during her last two years, and often listened to this piece late at night to cope with having to listen to the oxygen concentrator machine. I still listen to it now as I talk to her in eternity.
I'm so sorry for your son✝, RIP, Now He's with ₮ⱧɆ ⱠØⱤĐ JɆ₴Ʉ₴ ₵ⱧⱤł₴₮ ₳₥Ɇ₦ 🙏☝
ł ₱Ⱡ₳Ɏ ₮Ⱨł₴ ₣ØⱤ ₥₳ⱠłⱫⱫɎ ✝, ⱤØɎ✝ & ĐɄ₭Ɇ ✝
Ɽł₱ ₳₥Ɇ₦ 🙏
Personally, i think Vaughan Williams is probably the most underrated composer in the last 150 years.
@Penderyn Lewsyn
His great-grandfather was Welsh.....that’s it.
I don't think that he IS under-valued, however his fame has yet to reach the heights that it no doubt will in the centuries to come - like ALL the greats.
personally,
surely
indeed
What on earth are you talking about? Vaughan Williams was and remains a hugely popular and successful composer. This is one of the most famous pieces of classical music ever composed. VW is most certainly NOT underrated!
I'm a bit ashamed I'd never heard of him till recently.
This is absolute beauty.
Down in the American South, we have ourselves a little saying for things like this: It don't get any better than this. Amen.
This sublime piece of music is my go-to when my soul needs quietening. Yesterday, out of the blue, I was told I have incurable cancer. It is now before the dawn on the following day. My soul is being soothed once more when I need it most.
I am incredibly sorry about your diagnosis. I wish you good health in the future to come. I’m glad you come to this piece of transcendent music in your time of pain and suffering, it is beyond words how life-giving this is for me and it probably is for you too ❤
I could not wish you more positive vibes than this piece, however I'm wishing, God Bless and my positive vibes, just like this fabulous music are resonating with you xx
Cool story bro
The phrase which always comes to mind for me with this piece is "Through difficulties to the stars" My very best wishes to you.
My very best wishes and prayers.
To have had the privilege of playing this work while still only a teenager, with one's dearest friends all around in every section of the orchestral--what an honour, what a revelation; to hear it again and again through the years, ever deeper, richer, more consoling; and to come back yet again decades later to this performance, to see and hear in every solo those dear friends of youth, such fine players, so many of them now dead... To think that this work was premiered a mere 114 years ago--barely over a century, in which the world has transformed beyond belief. Words fail, tears flow, and--thank goodness--music never dies.
In June 1987 I played this piece of sublime music on a cassette tape in my car on the hill above Woolhope in Herefordshire overlooking the Malvern Hills while I composed the eulogy to my father which I read at his funeral the following day.
I’m a LONG way from home right now but when I hear this I’m in Britain. In the fields I played in as a kid. God, I can FEEL it. That light in late evening in summer. This isn’t just music - it’s a ticket to somewhere else. Whatever you believe in there’s something magical in this that transcends us all.
Hiraeth
No this isn't just music. This is something deep in your soul, something which is immersed in your whole being . Something which we mere mortals could never understand. Something which has lain dormant inside of us for a thousand years.
@@970357ers what a beautiful word.
By God you're right!
England, God bless her and all who are imprisoned in her.
Tallis wasn't even the best pianist in The Beatles.
John Lennon
I am old now, but use to be a professional violist and have played this, even the solo viola part. I grew up singing in an Anglican cathedral men and boys choir, became a choirmaster and organist. If only others could know all that I experienced, felt, saw, witnessed in my poor life when I sang and played music like this. I lived on both earth and in heaven. If only people knew what was in store, there would be love, eternal love all over the earth! Look up all the different hymn lyrics set to this tune. Think upon them as you listen to this piece. In your wildest imagination you can't even know how sitting in an orchestra and playing this piece AND knowing these texts AND knowing about Tallis and Ralph Vaughan Williams can effect a person. I have known several people who had a genuine soul / life changing revelation upon hearing this work. "I heard the voice of Jesus say . . . " Can you hear his voice too within this music?
Jesus is the way to the Father and eternal life, because he died for our sins
That is the best description I have ever heard of where this piece can take me .
Truly blessed.
I don't have words to properly reply to what you have described as your experience expecially in your playing the music. But I want to. All I know is I'm experiencing something too listening to this. When you said that you lived on both earth and in Heaven I immediately felt I could relate though I am not sure I could replicate your exact feeling, I am sure I have felt God. God bless you and God bless everyone.
Thank you, sir , awe-inspiring
This and Nimrod are the perfect English pieces. Dark stormy tempestuous, but then resolving quietly to a beautiful days end, trip to the pub. Nimrod a quick investigation, Tallis is the whole journey. Love is a many splendid thing, music is the rest!
I live in Hong Kong. Amidst all of the craziness, I needed the solace of a hike in the forest near my house, and put a classical mix on my headphones. This piece came on while climbing through some rocks to a peak overlooking the ocean. I wept the whole way up, and my heart filled to bursting when I crested that peak, with all of this power and beauty in my ears. In my whole soul. Thank you for posting this incredible rendition.
"The beauty of it smote his heart...For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small
and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
@@jamieyoung9392 That's a great quote. I swear that came from the Lord of the Rings. It just sounds like something JRR Tolkien would write.
@@nelsonsmissingarm6951 It is. It's Sam's epiphany of the star in Mordor.
As you wept, I did upon reading your note. Tjhank you.
@@jamieyoung9392 Thank you for that.
When Vaughan Williams composed this he surpassed all standards of musical brilliance. To call it composing is an understatement. Here, he actually touched God!
rainbowqueen1872 It is indeed magical. Perhaps God touched him!
Amen to that.
I just recently got sober from opiates. I was numbed to a lull of depression and misery. Detox was hell, but somewhere in my 7th day clean, this song popped up in my feed and moved me to utter tears when I heard it. Brought back so many emotion. Specifically watching Master and Commander with my Dad
I am here too because of the film, the music really enhanced the movie and made it all the more enjoyable.
Congratulations on your sobriety !..
*
Thank you for mentioning parts of this are heard in the Russell Crowe movie "Master and Commander"..
I didn't know the name of this music till I heard it on SiriusXM Symphony Hall recently.
So happy to save this in Favorites, now. 🙂
@@suze816 thanks! Have you seen the movie
I pray you are still away from the opiates. I myself am not. I commend you my friend. Opiate withdrawal is the most horrific thing I have ever experienced.
@@bertk3923 .. Ohh,... Only about 30 or more times.. I'm a Russell Crowe fan.. Some movies you never get tired of, and this is one of them.😄
I was born in Gloucester.
My mother helped build hurricane fighters there during the war, and saw friends bombed and died in the factory.
My father was a fire watcher at the cathedral and helped protect the cathedral and St. Edward's chair.
The music, the setting, the memories are part of me.
About 20 years ago, whilst on a family day out in Lincoln and quite by chance, my wife, sons & I visited the Cathedral, where the BBC Orchestra were rehearsing for their evening performance. They played this piece and we were mesmerised. The most beautiful piece of music in the most beautiful Cathedral in England. One of the most memorable events of my life.
Sir, thou art amongst this select company of very few living souls who can claim in all honesty to have my eternal, smouldering envy.
It's kind of you to say that about Lincoln Cathedral. It is indeed beautiful and I had the honour of graduating there. X
RichardTheThird True! The same could be said of churches too. I was walking along Fleet Street in London a few years back and went into one of the churches there. There was someone practicing playing the organ at the time and the church seemed magnificent in that moment. :-)
RichardTheThird Ha ha! And Steep Hill is a joy to trudge, eh? 😂
RichardTheThird And all the cafes, pubs and ice cream parlours at the top are the reward! 😀
The magic of that melody is all about the switch between major and minor, but of the same key. For the first few notes, it is a root minor chord against the dominant note. But while the note doesnt change, there is a subtle switch to the root major chord underneath. Its unusual because that chord is not in the current key - its a key change of total subtlety. The key change is only pronounced in those very high violins at first. It gives it that ethereal, other-worldly quality. It also comes directly from Thomas Thallis, because changing keys like that is something done in the old Renaissance days, but much less so after the modern tonal system was fully established during the early baroque. Thomas Tallis would not have seen it as a key change, because he was writing before the modern tonal system was solid. Just thought I'd bore someone with that.
Yes... Don't spoil the music.
ian winterford , quite the contrary, in my view. An enhanced understanding of the technical aspects of a piece can lead to a better understanding of the creative process behind the work, and hence ultimately a deeper understanding of why we find it beautiful, as indeed I find this, arguably the most gorgeous work of the English Musical Renaissance. The objective and the subjective shouldn't be seen as each other's eternal antitheses.
Your point is appreciated, but one feels the majority listen to music for pleasure. My remark was jokingly aimed at purchasing audio content not the technicalities of which most do not appreciate...... Interestingly,
"Adagio for Strings" - Samuel Barber...
Is relative were the theme uses rising chords to achieve a finale of completeness.
The Fantasia Theme...RVW Is a favourite of mine.
Luke, I always appreciate an expert revealing the secrets for we non-musicians. Many thanks
I feel the need to agree, and disagree. While I was very interested in reading Luke's technical description - as an amateur musician - I do have to say, I had the opportunity years ago, to play a violin part in the second orchestra (community, university) performing this piece - and I remember feeling that learning the technicalities of the piece kind of killed the magic for awhile. Lucky for me, it's been years, and the magic is back in full force.
However, i have to say, that performing this masterpiece - being a tiny voice in such an absolutely soul shattering, amazing gift from RVW was sublime. An opportunity I will be forever grateful for, as it's my favorite all time piece.
RIP Andrew Davis {1944-2024} great champion of english music. You will be sorely missed
Fair enough, but this is Welsh not English😊
@@wmorris189 Thomas Talis english. Vaughn Williams English. Andrew Davis English - what bit is welsh?
Thank you Great Britain for giving the world Ralph Vaughan Williams. In the Fen Country and the Lark Ascending are two more wonderful compositions.
It's almost as if Ralph Vaughan Williams were able to stretch his arm up to heaven and pull down a little of its glory for us all to see.
RVW was an agnostic/atheist so probably banned from doing this.
@@problemchimp4231 Sometimes a non-believer may have a deeper understanding about issues of faith than a believer, who in turn might be blinded by his own faith.
Nicely put!!
Yes. It is most holy. It is God's presence.
That is what he did.
I am playing this beautiful piece in my orchestra and I enjoy the listening to the deep sound. Vaughan Willams is a verrrrrrry talented composer😊
- I'd rather say he was a very accomplished composer.
This was one of my first introductions into classic music as a child. Thank you dad for introducing me to this amazing piece
Two composers - Thomas Tallis & Ralph Vaughan Williams, working 400 years apart - "came together" to create this most fantastic and utterly sublime Fantasia. Vaughan Williams - fresh from a trip to France to study orchestration with his younger colleague, Maurice Ravel - singled out the Tallis tune "Why Fum'th in Fight?" while editing the English Hymnal... and proceeded to craft a piece far beyond the intentions of the original composer, lifting the "Tallis Theme" into the stratosphere... and beyond! Three string ensembles, a full string section, a smaller group of nine players, and a string quartet create a lush, shimmering soundscape all awash with yearning harmonies and haunting, ghostly echos. The underlying melody is all Tallis... but EVERYTHING ELSE is the pure mystical magical musical GENIUS of Vaughan Williams... with the magisterial addition of a little "French polish." Vaughan Williams' great homage to Tallis was premiered in 1910 at the Three Choirs Festival: an annual concert dating from 1709, rotating among Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford Cathedrals. I can't help feeling that there's a special place reserved in Heaven for all the many and myriad string players who have performed this otherworldly piece since its inaugural performance; I may be mistaken, but I prefer to believe otherwise.
Mike D.
I can't play any musical instrument, but I sincerely hope that if there is a heaven and that I go there, that I'll be able to continue listening to this music, it moves my soul whenever I hear it, such a contrast to the Evil abroad in our world today.
ITS EMBODIED IN THE ORIGINAL WORDS OF THE HYMN.VAUGHN WILLIAMS GREAT INSPIRATION COMES NOT ONLY FROM THE THEME BUT THE ALMOST MISTICAL WORDS OF THE ORIGINAL WHICH HELP CREATE THESE TWO INSPIRED WORKS!!
ITS EMBODIED IN THE ORIGINAL WORDS OF THE HYMN.VAUGHN WILLIAMS GREAT INSPIRATION COMES NOT ONLY FROM THE THEME BUT THE ALMOST MISTICAL WORDS OF THE ORIGINAL WHICH HELP CREATE THESE TWO INSPIRED WORKS!
@@luigicorvi1661 No need to shout it out in capitals, friend. But Tallis' choral setting of this moving hymn is a very fine piece of work in itself.
Yes Tallis was waiting for Ralph VW to compose this masterpiece xx❤
I moved away from England, the country of my birth, nearly 25 years ago. Watching its seemingly unstoppable decline since then I feel blessed with this sublime music that transports me back to an England now lost forever.
- this is exactly the feeling I got when first hearing it. It's like England's funeral music.
"England's funeral music" - how apt. I wish I could disagree but sadly, I can't. @@peterwulff469
Please don't say that. England is alive and well and so many of us love is still, as it was, and as it is @ulff469
I'm afraid that's true. We have walked away from our judeo christian roots and are reaping the consequences
I too moved to another country, that being Canada. Vaughn William's music oozes England and the England we once knew
Time and time I return to this performance and think "Does music get any more beautiful than this?"
I can't agree more with this statement. It is an absolutely stunning performance and downright magical viewing/listening experience. I was so happy to find the BBC music cd of this performance, I play it frequently
It is soooooo gorgeous ❤❤❤
Music is infinite, we as human beings are very imperfect and limited, so yes, there's no limits and it can get better and better endlessly
Yes. Mahler 8 Finale.
After a lifetime of love for Classical music, this is my all-time favorite piece.
Yeah, don't overlook Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto played by Helene Grimaud. Some deeper understanding going on there that will take a reasonable amount of years to surface I guess
Mine too!!!❤❤❤❤
There are hundreds of really magical pieces in the music world, however, just a few can transcend, and speak directly to the soul.. There are no words to describe this miraculous work of art.
I mean it is just astonishing.
Da kann ich dir nur zustimmen 👌
Hear, hear. It's a magnificent piece of music. And, it truly gets into the very core of the soul. Simply beautiful.
Breathtaking piece of divine music ❤
Lucky enough to have played in this, one of the last things I did before leaving the orchestra. Hugely difficult to get the recording together in such lively acoustics. Seems we managed. RIP friend and colleague Rusen Gunes Viola player extraordinaire
Is he the viola player at 13:48 ? I listen especially for his viola line every time….I love that deeper, more meditative voice more than the foreground violin. 🥰🥰🥰
I wish I had been at the recording of this work, you were blessed to have been there.
My most grateful respects to you and all of your fellow musicians. This is my favorite piece of music. This venue, the way the music passes between all of you and fills the air... I wish I could have been right there in the center of it all absorbing the beauty. I think I might have morphed into something unearthly from the joy.
Thank you for sharing your experience in creating this work of art.
how brilliant you should comment here. it's an absolutely masterful performance and recording. thank you.
How magical it is that a theme created 450 years ago by Thomas Tallis, then transformed over 100 years ago by Vaughan Williams has endured so that this glorious, breath-taking, uplifting performance is available for us to enjoy. I have loved this piece of music for 50 years, it is and always shall be, my favourite.
BTW Tallis' own choral setting of this theme is pretty magical too. Vaughan Williams had some great material to work with.
there is a simple four part setting (original?) that is used for a hymn in the Episcopal hymnal.
Agreed. And performed in a building that had its 900th anniversary in 1989; listening to & watching this is a like time traveling.
It was written in 1910.. not 450 years ago
@Linda-vi3lp Thomas Tallis's theme was written 450 years ago,Vaughan Williams did this version in 1910
This is the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard in my life. Nothing else I've heard compares.
Good on you, Peter, though Dives and Lazarus, The Lark Ascending, Norfolk Rhapsody, In the Fen Country are also further examples (not the full range) of RVW music that takes us to past, present and future all at the same time, and draw on the ancient mysteries of the British land even as they enhance them. Thomas Tallis wrote religious music for several monarchs of England in his Chapel Royal context, but just one of his psalms written in 1567 was taken up here by Vaughan Williams - the man who himself did a vast amount for church music even as he insisted he was a non-believer. The Holy Spirit didn't seem to mind (or maybe saw it as a challenge?) and helped the composer reach transcending heights with music that generates ecstasy out of its melancholy. If somebody stands on a beach or cliff or hill in Britain 1000 years from now, this music will still be a part of that, and that is indeed miraculous. The composer volunteered - to be an a ambulance driver - in World War I, although he was already 42 years old, and did not have to. He was later in the Artillery, so the gunfire left him partly deaf. He was born 149 years ago today!!! He died suddenly aged 85, having not been ill at all - so God was indeed kind to him...
I'll give you that. It never ceases to choke me up. It's just the essence of humanity at it's most beautiful.
I totally agree with you, there's a magic about it, you won't find anywhere else.
Sid Pheasant, well said. I love love the music of both Tallis and VW. Perhaps it’s because he used very old church music as well as folk music as the basis for nearly everything he composed. It’s speaks to the deepest part of my being.
@@monicacall7532Agreed and yet he was a confirmed ATHEIST.
There was something FAR BETTER in VWs mind than gods. He was a beautiful man and a very loving human being.
We will never see his like ever again.
When I leave this world I want this magic music playing, thank you god for letting me hear this.
I am a historian. One of the hazards of my craft is the slide into cynicism and despair over the state of human affairs. The dreary record of human cruelty, avarice, warfare, and violence is all too abundant. As the Roman statesman Plautus said, "Man is a wolf to man." But then I hear something as sublime as William's Fantasia and hope in my species is rekindled and I think, maybe just maybe we aren't all bad and that perhaps there is hope for us after all.
Well said sir,well said
Cynicism and despair are too easy. Hope is more difficult but also more worthwhile. Your comment was beautifully put.
Бесконечна, как "природа человека неизменно низменна (Плутарх)", в связи с живописанием жития Ганнибал. Бесконечностью копеечной многочисленна. Вы не историк, а подвизавшийся к изучению. Историк это "кто творит историю", в связи с Эмиль Рейх "Современная Германия".
- no, we are not all bad but the large majority is either bad or useless eaters.
As someone who teaches history and other social sciences, I feel the same way. I love what I do, but unfortunately mankind rarely learns from the past.
How in the name of all that is blessed and beautiful have I not heard this until now... Haunting, ethereal, otherworldly ... terms that simply don't do it justice. May we all at least once, twice or thrice in our lives feel like hearing this for the first time.
I'm going to dream about this for days!
🥰🥰🥰
I was saddened to learn of Andrew Davis’s passing in April 2024. An extraordinary career and legacy. This remains one of the finest performances of any piece of classical music.
Apart from being one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever, and performances....the comments on TH-cam are so refreshing, kind and insightful. Every time I listen, I read through again and get the same warm feeling.
Hi Avril, I've heard this rendition (my favourite) about 12 times (I never want to over listen to this piece), but am just reading the comments for the first time and couldn't agree more. I think if the world were full of people who had the capacity and deep sense of beauty to truly experience the eternity in this piece, there would be no poverty, no loneliness and it would be the wonderful world in which we "should" be living, rather than this awful mess we've created.
I'm glad you said that. I feel the same way!
This piece saved my life in the spring of 1977, just before my first journey to the UK. It was a difficult time, and I needed to be sprung from my ordinary life. I listened to this over and over on my parents' stereo in California. And then suddenly I was in London, and then Cliveden. . .
Está Esta es la llave tonal del arcángel Jofiel 💛
Rest well, Sir Andrew Davis. Thank you for everything- specially this definitive performance. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Am I the only one who gets a PHYSICAL reaction to this-chills down the spine, tingling of the scalp?
Nope, you are definitely not...my hairs stand up always and have tears in my eyes...
No.😊
What they said
if you don't feel it then you are dead or have no soul. I feel it too
No you are not alone, there's something so special about both the Tallis and the Vaughan Williams scores which cannot be explained but they call to a spark of our soul that listens and follows to the sound and soars upwards rejoicing.
Born in England but now living elsewhere, when listening to this I imagine an airial view of the English North Sea coast and the beautiful countryside
Some very interesting and informed comment on here. Thomas Tallis wrote his original score for Psalm 2 "Why doth the heathen rage? So as an Englishman, I relish the Tallis sacred foundation and the Vaughan Williams Fantasia which he built upon it. It's pure England, villages with ancient stone churches wrapped in rolling hills topped with stands of swaying oak and beech and elm all bathed in late afternoon sunshine. However, as a Christian all this Englishness is trumped by Psalm 2 "the Lord shall have them in derision". Even so come Lord Jesus.
allis foundation
- yes, it England's glorious 1000 year history, England's countryside, England's cathedrals and much more.
IN MY HUMBLE OPPINION, THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PIESES OF MUSIC EVER WRITTEN.
A contender, definitely. There’s a couple of others I’d throw into the pot for debate.
For me, this is piece is among the greatest English music ever written. It is utterly sublime.
RIP Sir Andrew Davis, who died today. A great loss to conducting, to music and to the world.
That he was
RIP
RIP Albert and Molly Bowers. I first heard this wonderful piece in their house in Longford Ireland. I miss those days, but long to sit beside you in heaven sipping Earl Grey tea and listening to Albert’s classical record collection. Along with my parents I miss you all so much.
Me - "This is what I want at my funeral."
Friend - "Yeah, sure mate. Hope it doesn't happen soon but we can definitely play this."
Me - "No. You misunderstand. I want THIS at my funeral. The full works. Midnight. Cathedral. Full string orchestra one side, desk the other, quartet to the side, my coffin in the middle. No guests, they'll just interfere with the acoustics."
At my mother's funeral, and at my father's shortly after, we sang the hymn "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say," whose melody comes from the Tallis theme behind Vaughan-Williams' work. My parents, especially Dad, loved this VW work, so it was appropriate to hear it at their funerals. It can still bring me to tears when I hear it, and this performance, with the magnificent acoustics of the cathedral, is just overwhelming.
Perhaps this is the sound you will hear as you step into the afterlife and meet that creative life force that people call God for want of a better word.
About ten years ago, in writing my will, I stated I wanted this played at mine.
now that is a proper send off
My wife and I played this at her mothers funeral. It was a fitting send-off for her.
RIP Sir Andrew. Thank you for helping to give us this magical performance of the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, conducting many BBC Proms and so much more. Your legacy will live on.
Can you be homesick for a place you've never been? This, to me, is what England sounds like.
- very well put.
This music is far bigger than tath islandcountry 😊
Indeed, this beautiful music conjures up images of green fields, stately homes and centuries of history... I love it.
You've been. We all have for unfathomable time but had to forget to experience this place.
@@maloabell7720try to at least understand basic geography before making comments. England is not an island. A cursory glance at any basic map will confirm this as it shares borders with Wales and Scotland.
When I learned that this fantasia was going to be a part of the progam being played here in Johannesburg a few years ago, I immediately made an online booking. I knew this piece so well even though I do not play any instrument. I didnt want to sit in the front row or anywhere near the front of the auditorium but somewhere near the back and high up. Why? Because I knew that I would not be able to control my arms and moist eyes while I "air conducted". Fortunately I was on my own and in the shadows as I stood and I conducted the orchestra swaying and dipping and stooping and conducting to my hearts content following this amazing music, and watching the members of the orchestra playing it just for me. They did not disappoint, I was in a sort of musical dream just me, and no one else.
And on the eighth...God created Ralph Vaughan Williams
Underrated😂
Actually, Vaughan Williams was, he claimed, an atheist! However I seem to have heard that he converted to Catholicism just before he died.
Ralph Vaughan Williams made it part of his life's work to travel the British Isles to record for posterity as many of the old folk tunes as he could find before they were lost to history. The original theme here goes back to medi-evil times and if it hadn't been for him this beautiful music would have been lost to us. We owe him so much.
+saxon954; I am so glad you brought that point up. Just as I was thinking how incredible this concert, originating in 1910, and how amazing that, in itself was.
Though, to your exact point, so many of Ralph Vaughan Williams works are based on traditional folk music and transformed into such as this. What a thought, had it not been for RV Williams, the above music, and so much more, may never have been.
From now on, I will try to keep that thought, whenever listening to RV Williams.
Thank you for sharing that incredible thought.
yes i agree, but this is a hymn tune by thomas tallis not a folk song. It appears in many hymnals as "third mode melody". RVW's treatment of the tune is very folksong-ish though. One of my favourite pieces. Always brings tears to my eyes. Heard it live in Norwich cathedral and I was in bits.
Yes, it's in The English Hymnal.
And the Thomas Tallis of course was a regular member of the court of Henry VIII in its early days.
Cable guy
“MEDIEVAL TIIIIIIIIIMES!!!”
Whilst getting my self back into the groove this year, I was driving a 26 tonne lorry and thankfully I had the notion to listen to Classical Radio rather than the usual claptrap. I thank God that I heard this peace of masterful musical motion for the first time, it has never left me since. Each time I hear it, I feel a surge of emotion. It is truly a masterpiece and deserves it's place amongst the great classical composers.
Gary Ranford Concur Sir;).
Absolutely! So many great works by this man!
Sure is, dude
Exquisite
it will stay with you as it is that good.
The music, the cathedral, the cinematography. Just an amazingly gorgeous presentation.
The setting adds so much to this incredibly important, fantastically beautiful music. I've been to Gloucester Cathedral, unfortunately not when any music was being performed and for a ten year old it was huge, gazing up at the roof and back to the floor, I got a subtle hint of this piece echoing with joy. Never forget my experience there, had a similar occurrence in Wells cathedral. Love the area, although not really local I lived on the outskirts of Bristol for what felt like a long time as part of the expat Scots community. Bristol Cathedral was lovely but felt younger more unsure almost as if it recognised the Church on the other side of College Green to have more power, history and gravity than it did.
@@elizabethclark394 The late, great David Crosby tweeted that he loved this work. So I tweeted him with a link to this video. He retweeted it. I was thrilled. But later he tweeted something about 4/11 day, David being a pot enthusiast. I replied that April 20 is also Hitler's birthday, and I teased that maybe pot enthusiasts chose April 20th to counter what a drag Hitler was. He blocked me.
Magnificent. This is a pinnacle of human achievement in every realm. Superlative beauty touching the divine.
What can I say: It is probably the "The Most Beautiful Piece if Music Ever Written"!!!!❤❤❤
I was just transported to another world for 17 minutes and it was wonderful!!
This beautiful, evocative music IS England; Englands hills, its moors, its streams, its meadows; the sea, the wind, this is England encapsulated in music. Truly inspiring and emotional.
Lots of great comments here but you nailed it
I can't listen to this without crying.
It is beautiful.
Try the original, Why Fum'th In Fight, you'll hear why Ralph nabbed this beautiful choral song.
Those minors will get you every time. Beautifully melancholic.
🌱🍃🌿💜
Thank you@@garth56
Thank you so much. I am 66 years old and raised on rock and roll. I am sitting here crying with joy an wonder at such a gorgeous, lavish piece of music. It makes me want to study music. Thank you so much.
"How beateous is Mankind!" Oh brave new World that has such creatures in it!"
"Tis new to thee".
So beautiful, so British, so inspiring, so amazing. Vaughan Williams was the greatest composer ever. My heart leaps through my chest and I want to cry with the absolute purity and beauty of this.
I do cry; in fact I am trying to write this with quite a few tears in my eyes.
I feel so sorry for those who miss out on music, either by choice or otherwise. This is beautiful.
Went to a mates funeral a few days ago, played this when the coffin came down the isle - found it difficult not to break down with sadness.
it is difficult to separate music and emotion in situations like that. I once had to sing at the funeral of a fellow choir member. It was terrible.
Its going to be played at my own funeral
I loved this music. I loved all the music created by this composer. Vaughan Williams is the greatest artist to me.
One of the greatest pieces of music ever written I'm Irish and this always makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. A true masterpiece
Try listening to this while looking up at the stars. Incredible....
I'll try that James 😊
While on business in Cheltenham (Eng UK) about four years ago, I took a cab to Gloucester Cathedral on a Saturday. This piece so captures its atmosphere, that I think in the darkness of night there, one might hear this melody drifting though the corridors.
My David loved this music and he died listening to it in November 2019, wonderful, peaceful, magnificent.
149years since the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams his music is worshipped the world over. Rest Peacefully Mr Williams your music still astounds
I grew up through childhood with this track, since my dad loves it. Revisiting it now, it feels like the score to an epic fantasy film I feel so deeply connected to, but have never seen. It is utterly transcendent.
Transcendent is the perfect word for it.
My Dear Dad passed away just 4 months ago. He loved his classical music. This piece is a comfort for the feeling of such awful loss.
Andrew Davis and the BBC got the sound just right in this performance. A mystical carpet of notes, with orchestral parts perfectly balanced. The cathedral's acoustics certaainly reinforce the unearthly sound, and the solo quartet blend right in. I'm glad I found this performance. I love it.
Everyone is rightly focused on the amazing music, but I think props should also be given to the amazing editing, cinematography, and lighting that really add an incredible visual atmosphere to this piece! Bravo to the creative team behind this production. The way the orchestra is spread through the church is also really neat, imagine being there and hearing different parts of the music coming from all around you!!
Also, fun note: this theme was the inspiration for James Horner's love theme in "Troy", where he elaborated on it and created a lovely piece of music in his own right. You can hear it in the track "Through The Fires, Achilles...And Immortality".
+rpvee Yes every element compliments the others .
+rpvee I agree. I think this is a good piece to show to my students how separate parts in a string orchestra works. Also, the beauty of this piece is unparalleled.
+rpvee You are absolutely correct.
+rpvee Here here! My thoughts exactly.
+rpvee great insight. I agree with your observations that its not only the sublime music but also the ingenuous use of light and darkness; A visual masterpiece.
Beautiful
So much has already been said about this piece - All I can do is thank my Father and my music teacher John Stowe for introducing me to the classics, Opera, Ballet and more - This isn't just beautiful music - It's a feeling, a time, a place, an emotion, a memory - For me who now lives in the USA, this sends me back to Britain, to a childhood filled with music and joy, this piece is the green fields of Britain and when I close my eyes, I am there again and when I open my eyes, they are filled with tears.
I live under Taranaki Mountain in New Zealand. Majestic, as is this. It is eternal and I feel like a bird flying up to heaven. When hearing this. Angelic.
This speaks to my soul.. My England, my Leon heart! The greatest country and people the world has ever known. ❤❤❤❤
I once had the amazing opportunity to play this piece and there is something magical about it. There are so many lines of music within the score, my poor conductor often would struggle trying to follow the score with sometimes 15 or more lines. Each section (first and second violin viola and bass) is divided often so that each section will be playing 2 or 3 separate lines. Add on to this the second orchestra ( the smaller orchestra seen in the back in this video) which often has divided parts so each member of the second orchestra is essentially playing their own line free of everyone else. This song is truly a masterpiece. I will never forget how even though this song was one of the most difficult I have ever played (due both the complexity and concentration required and the duration) it felt magical to play it. This 15 or so minute song was never long enough. The best part of performing this song was the magic stillness that lingered after the final notes, even the audience held their breath for a good 30 seconds after the last notes had faded before clapping. Truly a magic piece.
+Abby Walker i so envy you having played this. Loving RVW as I do, I have many versions, Brown, Bean etc....I think this is my favourite.
Abby Walker Kitty, why do you keep calling this MARVELOUS PIECE A SONG.
It is not a song it is an orchestral piece.
I got to play this in high school, it’s vastly different being in the middle of it experiencing it and MAKING IT with others. It was my favorite to play, and I still go back and listen to our recording of it for the nostalgia
It's not an orchestral piece, it is a prayer.
Such an amazing place to be playing it, with amazing acoustics! The setting is wonderful. Magical piece. My father played a lot of Vaughn Williams and I came to love his music.
One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, and an absolutely phenomenal performance. The video was also exquisite, but I would SO much more have loved to have been there as this was being played and recorded. The acoustics in this grand cathedral must have been phenomenal. And I've only been enjoying great music such as this for the past 60 years ...... THANK YOU!
I used to hear this piece of music on the radio when my work started at 6:00 A.M. in the seventies. I was moved by its beauty, and did not realize then, that I would always remember this as one of the most gorgeous, moving pieces of music, ever. I was not, at that time aware of Tallis, since Vaughan Williams was credited for this version. Now I know that Tallis created music that was astonishingly beautiful.
indeed, this is not just music but an ocean of comfort. Cannot stop listening.
I first heard this music in 1965 when I was a Freshman at the University of MaIne in Orono, Maine. The only radio I had was a portable AM radio. But at night, I was able to listen to a classical music station from NYC. The station was WQXR. Maybe some of the other commentators are familiar with it. I was totally spellbound by this piece of music. After having read several of the other comments, I was amazed by how so many others actually had "other world" or "next life" experiences. I can't say that I did, but I can say I immediately fell in love with this and have never forgotten the first time I heard it. Now I have upgraded my sound system to surround sound, and I have my desktop computer connected to Bose speakers. When I listen to this piece and many, many others, it's like the orchestra is in my living room!!! Thanks so much for uploading this beautiful music!
I have very recently stumbled across this, what i can only describe as an absolutely indescribable piece of music!!
I am not in anyway religious but this makes me feel as close to being religious as possible!! Every human being on this planet needs exposing to this masterpiece and im confident good would come from it!!
I was lucky enough to be there and it was quite simply mind blowing. Sublime, haunting and deeply moving. The acoustics of this glorious medieval cathedral for which it was intended added a resonant deep bass you could actually feel, almost a juddering effect. It was also the LOUDEST non amplified live music I'd ever experienced. Thank you for uploading and thank you to Andrew Davis and the orchestra for doing justice to this masterpiece, which is at once strange yet so familiar when you hear it first. It needs to be played LOUD through decent speakers or headphones to fully appreciate IMHO.
It would have been necessary to carry me out in a bucket had I been there in person! Also, how on earth did they manage keeping the audience so quiet?
@@BearAZ You don't cough in the presence of the ethereal.
Instantly jealous reading this Ben! Beautifully described. I can't not cry when I listen to this recording! ❤
'And when God spoke even the druken loudmouth was struck dumb.'
Spiritualized
im lucky i have some decent speakers and nobody around
Breathtakingly beautiful. Melancholy, but somehow hopeful? I adore this piece 🥰
Fills me full of sadness knowing our beautiful England which this masterpiece epitomises is only lent to us for a relatively short time and we have to say goodbye to the beauty of it all
Even as he was writing, the lights were going out...
They took our country away from us
possibly the most beautiful of all English compositions,shut your eyes and it takes you to an English heaven and elevates the soul.
Englishnes runs through my Anglo Saxon veins.
Would this English heaven exclude non English people? If so, it could hardly be called heaven.😟
@@ianstrange5674 Yes.
Never heard this piece until today and it knocked me down entirely. Can't stop listening to it again and again.
Absolutely without peer. R.V. Williams' blood runs with England. And such a great setting for one of the pre-eminent pieces in the English canon. Speechless...
A magical piece that is transcending in its beauty and power to inspire.
When I was in my early 20s my brother made me listen to this beautiful music and it changed my listening for ever.
How did he do it? this mans soul spoke for a nation and still does. utter genius.
The BEST Version EVER. It bring me to Tears
My Soul demands that I play this piece daily.
I've played it almost nightly since discovering it the day before my father died.
My favourite piece of classical music. Heavenly
I enjoy reading the comments here in appreciation of this great piece of music .
A long time ago my mother had a companion who was a classical music composer and church organist / music director .
He asked me what my favorite piece of classical music was and I named this piece , because I had fallen asleep to it often as a child and it holds a special sentimental place for me like few other pieces of music .
He laughed in scorn as if it revealed my maudlin shallow appreciation of music .
( for him no doubt it would be some collectively worshipped piece by Bach ).
Anyway that interaction has stuck in my memory and I always wish I could go back with the wisdom of age that I have accumulated and put him in his place .
I still think its a gorgeous piece of music that evokes emotion like few others .
Sometimes perfection just happens........
This is by far the most beautiful piece, that I am yet to experience.
There exists not enough well rounded words within any given human vocabulary, or any of the ones to ever exist combined to properly and profoundly express the deep sense of joy and satisfaction that I experience when I listen to this.
If this is not art, then I will piss in my grave for lack of a better word.
Some people just do not know what quality is when it hits them right in the face, and screams right at them "Can you bear me, asshole?! Can you fucking handle me?!"
Pardon me, I dont mean to be negative and focus on the negative here but how the FUCK can TWELVE(12) people dislike this video?
Honestly it is far beyond, for me to grasp - but then again I could care less...
I will enjoy this wonderful piece of music a couple of times once more, and save me from feeling down during yet another gloomy, dark, vinter day and night.
◢ тне Scαɴᴅıɴανıαɴ Aтнеısт ◣ It's a jaw droppingly emotive piece to be sure. You might also like the same composers work, The Lark Ascending. I assume you'd be familiar with Clair de Lune, but if not you should give that a go. It's for solo piano but there are orchestral arrangements which are just as divine.
◢ тне Scαɴᴅıɴανıαɴ Aтнеısт ◣ I do believe you did have the words to express the feelings put forth when listening to this Masterpiece. I do agree with Dylan that Lark Ascending also is just beautiful beyond words . I am far from spiritual in any form. Reason and science free me from stupid. Mr. Williams was very religious and yet he can connect with me and others with this AMAZING work.
dbn52
Actually, Williams's spiritual "journey" was from atheism to agnosticism (and he was a great nephew of Darwin). Yet I think he had a sense of things, reflected in his music (all of it) that is best called "theological." He also contributed many hymns to the Anglican Church's repertoire. He is quite an intriguing figure.
I was unaware of the Darwin connection and thank you for telling me about this .I find him so as you say "intriguing ". Thanks again
Just finished watching all of youtube and I'd say this is the best thing on it.
I don't understand how or why, but this piece makes me feel so emotional. Honestly this is breathtaking :)
Music begins where words end. (This is not from me! But it is true.)
Me too, Brianna
Makes me feel very English
I agree. It is an emotional roller coaster of all the senses. It whips you up to the point of tears and almost comforts you before it swooshes deeply into tragedy.
Never tire of hearing it
Brianna - for this reason I ❤️ you too✨
Gorgeous and sublime. Makes the tears fall. Incredibly moving.
I've only recently discovered Vaughn Williams. Ive purchased a couple dozen CDs - no regard for duplicates. This piece moves me near to tears every time I hear it. It is to me, heaven.
I used to sing a hymn for funerals at a Catholic Church that was this theme .
“I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest.
Lay down thy weary one, lay down,
Thy head upon my breast.
I came to Jesus as I was ,
Weary , and worn and sad .
I found in him a resting place ,
And he has made me glad”.
-This was 40 years ago and I never forgot the words .