Oboe Concerto (Vaughan Williams)

Vaughan Williams began work on the Oboe Concerto in 1943, immediately after completing the Fifth Symphony, with which it shares a great deal. Amongst other things, the concerto began as a revision of a scherzo movement originally intended for the symphony.{{sfn|Heffer|2000|loc=106}} The concerto was first performed by Leon Goosens accompanied by the Oxford Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Armstrong on 8th March 1944 in Oxford Town Hall.http://www.oxfordsymphonyorchestra.org.uk/carchive.htm?queries%5Bsearch%5D=vaughan The concerto was to have been performed at a Proms concert on 5 July 1944, but due to the threat of V1 rocket raids on London the Proms season was curtailed. The piece was played in Liverpool instead, on 30 September 1944 in a concert by the Liverpool Philharmonic, conducted by Malcolm Sargent, that also included the Oboe Concerto by the soloist's brother, Eugène Goossens.{{sfn|Anon.|1944}}{{sfn|Biggar|1997|loc=12}}

This pastoral piece is divided into three movements:

1. Rondo Pastorale (Allegro moderato)
2. Minuet and Musette (Allegro moderato)
3. Scherzo (Presto – Doppio più lento – Lento – Presto)

The concerto has an element of cyclic form. Each movement begins and ends with the same pentatonic theme, spanning an octave.{{sfn|Mark|2013|loc=192}} It is scored for a solo oboe and strings.

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Sources

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• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Anon.|1944}}|reference=Anon. 1944. "Vaughan Williams's Oboe Concerto: First Performance". The Times no. 49967 (Monday, 2 October): 6.}}
• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Biggar|1997}}|reference=Biggar, Alice Lee Saunders. 1997. "An Analysis of the Oboe Concertos Dedicated to Leon Goossens Composed by Malcolm Arnold, Eugene Goossens, and Ralph Vaughan Williams." D.Mus. diss. Tallahassee: The Florida State University.}}
• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Heffer|2000}}|reference=Heffer, Simon. 2000. Vaughan Williams. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Boston: Northeastern University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-55553-472-1}}}}
• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Mark|2013}}|reference=Mark, Christopher. 2013. "Chamber Music and Works for Soloist with Orchestra". In The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams, edited by Alain Frogley and Aidan J. Thomson, 179–198. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-19768-7}}.}}

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• Campbell Bailey, Mary Lindsey. 2010. "Léon Goossens's Impact on Twentieth-Century English Oboe Repertoire: Phantasy Quartet of Benjamin Britten, Concerto for Oboe and Strings of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Sonata for Oboe of York Bowen." DMA diss. Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati.
• Day, James. 1998. Vaughan Williams, completely overhauled [third] edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-816632-0}} (cloth); {{ISBN|978-0-19-816631-3}} (pbk).
• Dickinson, A. E. F. 1963. Vaughan Williams. London: Faber and Faber. {{ISBN|9780571053735}}.
• Friesenhagen, Andreas. 1992. "Das Oboenkonzert von Ralph Vaughan Williams: Anmerkungen zu Form und Thematik". Das Orchester: Zeitschrift für Orchesterkultur und Rundfunk-Chorwesen 40, no. 11:1293–1297.
• Holmes, Paul. 1997. Vaughan Williams: His Life and Times. London: Omnibus Press. {{ISBN|9780711965263}}.
• Howes, Frank. 1975. The Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press Publishers.
• Kennedy, Michael. 1964. The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. London and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Kennedy, Michael. 1996. A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, second edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-816584-2}}.
• Kupitz, Emily. 2013. "English Folk Song Influences on the Vaughan Williams Concerto for Oboe and Strings." DMA diss. Tempe: Arizona State University.
• Rosen, Carole. 1993. The Goossens: A Musical Century. London: André Deutsch.

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• {{IMSLP|work=Oboe Concerto (Vaughan Williams, Ralph)|cname=Oboe Concerto (Vaughan Williams)}}
• {{AllMusic|class=composition|id=mc0002658446|author=Mark Satola|title=Ralph Vaughan Williams: Oboe Concerto in A minor}}
• [http://jsundram.freeshell.org/ProgramNotes/VaughanWilliams_Concerto.html Program notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208151604/http://jsundram.freeshell.org/ProgramNotes/VaughanWilliams_Concerto.html |date=8 February 2008 }} by Jason Sundram
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120320222437/http://cantatasingers.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/program-notes-for-ralph-vaughan-williams-concerto-in-a-minor-for-oboe-and-strings/ Program notes] by David Hoose (archive from 20 March 2012, accessed 28 April 2016)
• {{YouTube|jLnQJqktpqY|Animated score}}, Albrecht Mayer (oboe), Capella Bydgostiensis, Daniel Stabrawa conducting

{{Ralph Vaughan Williams}}

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Category:Concertos by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams

Category:1944 compositions

Category:Compositions in A minor

Category:Music dedicated to ensembles or performers