The Wasps - "Overture" by Ralph Vaughan Williams (Audio + Sheet Music)

pf: Hallé Orchestra cond/ Sir Mark Elder
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (also piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (F - 3, 4 ad lib.), 2 trumpets (F), 3 trombones (ad lib.), timpani, triangle, side drum, bass drum, cymbals
harp, string orchestra
Year/Date of Composition: 1909
First Publication: 1914 - London: Schott.
As had his teachers Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford before him, in 1909 Vaughan Williams was asked by the Greek Play Committee at Cambridge to write incidental music for their annual performance, which that year featured Aristophanes' satirical play The Wasps. Originally constituting an overture and 17 other items scored for tenor and baritone soloists, male chorus and orchestra, the music was heard for the first time at the performance of the play on November 26, 1909. The music was a huge hit, and a couple of years later Vaughan Williams extracted what he called an Aristophanic Suite from his incidental music; the Suite was first performed on July 23, 1912, with Vaughan Williams himself conducting the New Symphony Orchestra.
While the play itself is strongly satirical, Vaughan Williams' music is consistently good-natured. The music is also among his first to reflect the sound and spirit of English folk song, even though no actual folk songs are heard. Neither are heard any ancient Greek scales or quotations from Greek music; authenticity was not the composer's aim.
The overture to The Wasps was one of Vaughan Williams' first works to enter the fringes of the standard repertory, and has remained a concert and recording staple. We hear the buzzing of the wasps at the beginning of the overture, followed by a sequence of jolly melodies. More restrained and lyrical music temporarily takes over. Then suddenly the wasps return and the tempo picks up again. After a brief dramatic interlude, the tunes of the opening return, closing the overture in lively style. It might be noted that one of Vaughan Williams' first recordings as a conductor was of this overture, made with the Aeolian Orchestra in 1925.
The Aristophanic Suite also includes "The March Past of the Kitchen Utensils," a fine comic march, and a couple of Entr'actes. The Suite concludes with an exotic Ballet which, after a return of the buzzing wasps, leads into the rambunctious Final Tableau and a whirlwind coda.
Sources:
www.allmusic.com/composition/t...
imslp.org/wiki/The_Wasps,_Aris...

[@TERRYBIGGENDEN]

This is extraordinary brilliant, inventive music by a master orchestrator.. Vaughan Williams is a wizard wirth the orchestra. This is right u there withe the Tallis Fantasia. Ive always loved 'The Wasps;. :-)

[@anikalemay6173]

îjiiiijiijjjijjji⁰

[@kayleeshen5514]

The sound quality, as well as the orchestra, sounds amazing! I especially like being able to follow the sheet music.

[@windstorm1000]

Pure genius. I love how rvw weaves the two themes together. Breathtaking, poignant.

[@mw8653]

I visited St Lawrence church in Ludlow today was so lucky to hear the Ludlow Orchestra rehearsal for a concert later today starting with this piece of music which sounded superb with the church acoustics.

[@oscarmike1131]

5:10 mark feels me such peace. so grateful for this channel for introducing me to Williams. first piece of his I heard and what a piece

[@johnroberts3723]

Full of such beauty and passion.

[@cyberneticchiaroscuro2128]

listened to this on Wisconsin public radio and it was a banger

[@annakanaris-klusener6273]

some beautiful horn solos in there

[@brunocoliveira89]

I am really enjoying your channel. Thank you very much for posting these marvelous pieces of orchestral music. Hope you be able to get this work going on for longer as possible. Cheers

[@jenniferbate9682]

Thank you so much for this plus the score. Fabulous!

[@pierreboland8910]

One of the numerous masterpieces of Ralph V.W. Very good interpretation !

[@Raikaska]

Wow, absolutely mesmerizing since the first listen. Discovered Vaughan Williams this year and almost everything I listened of him has been great. Such a pleasant surprise!

[@quickhamburger9624]

We are playing this in marching band this year

[@nooblivecam]

This is awesome

[@puccio1795]

piacevole e costruito magistralmente

[@llcamus249]

Brilliant!

[@DanielaBodoh]

OMG I soooooo want to play this in orchestra!!!!!

[@adamz0037]

3:41-4:07 is so beautiful

[@FocusMrbjarke]

It sounds like film music but better (no offense to film music)

[@Threelinkdave]

It was actually used for a British Railways information film "Fully Fitted Freight" the Bristol Leeds fast express freight

[@wolfgangamadeusmozart6737]

It's also the main music in the movie 'Flirting"

[@Moley-ug6gq]

VW did write film scores much later in his career (most famously Scott of the Antarctic, aka Sinfonia Antarctica). Pieces like this obviously stood him in good stead...

[@GenericGoogleAccount]

That's because a lot of film composers were influenced and inspired by late 19th century and early 20th century classical composers

[@joemcle6521]

That is an insult to the piece

[@Barti22xD]

Does anybody can hear Stravinsky's "Firebird" in their heads at 0:40 - 0:48? :D

[@tomekkobialka]

I don't just hear it in my head...it's right there! :D Stravinsky was heavily inspired by Ravel at the time of writing Firebird (1910), and Ravel was Vaughan Williams' teacher in 1908. So that's the missing link. Note that The Wasps was composed before Firebird (1909) but published in 1914, so Stravinsky couldn't have cribbed from it like he did with Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and others...

[@Barti22xD]

Ooooh, that explains everything, thank you :D

[@boothamilton]

Revelation. Thank you

[@denisej4813]

The tune starting at 3:17 has to be one of the loveliest and most romantic ever written.

[@unartpazproduct]

simplemente hermoso

[@PauloCesarMaiadeAguiar]

Divine !!!!!

[@mnbvc60]

WOW! VW's piece that doesn't end with niente? I haven't seen that in a long time.

[@amymcguire8590]

❤

[@johnlorenzen4633]

Great overture

[@kimjeongyeon5640]

Hi! I always love your videos. Can you make varese's ionisation and poem electronique etc.?

[@frankhudson5985]

This piece was written in 1909 -- well before Stravinsky's Firebird (1910) and Holst's The Planets (1918).

[@FreakieFan]

And much worse than both of those.

[@jilliekettle5097]

@@FreakieFan you deaf man

[@ethanhenrichs5677]

@@FreakieFan I disagree. This is awesome music.

[@FreakieFan]

@@ethanhenrichs5677 The overture is great. The rest is awful. Especially compared to masterpieces like Firebird and Planets

[@DanielaBodoh]

@@FreakieFan They are all masterpieces.

[@SaxoplayerD]

Does anyone else feel like 2:45 through 3:15 sounds like something right out of Holst's Planets?? I swear the french horn and violin solos sound like they were taken from Venus. Is this a direct inspiration or a vague similarity?

[@anon-rf5sx]

It wouldn't be surprising to find similarities in their music. They were lifelong good friends, they knew and discussed each other's music, and both were influenced by English folk music. So even though they are rather different (and both great) composers, it makes sense that there are things in common.

[@adamz0037]

Vaughan and Holst were close friends who critiqued each other’s music and inspired each other. That’s likely some Holst inspiration there

[@finosuilleabhain7781]

@@bthurgood6664 You can't allude to something that doesn't yet exist.

[@thechosenone3197]

Could you do some of Vaughan Williams’ Symphonies?

[@TheKevinKruger]

7:40-7:53 sounds like it could be Disney music

[@douwemusic]

That's the "hate" in my love-hate relationship with Vaughan-Williams

[@denisej4813]

To me, as an English person, it sounds very traditionally English - as does all of this piece, really. Given that it was written in 2009, Disney films may have taken inspiration from The Wasps and possibly commissioned similar pieces to be used on soundtracks, but not the other way round!

[@nakedcelt]

For some reason I always think of Spitfires when I hear this.....

[@renetayar633]

Who cares it’s beautiful and uplifting.

[@cuadfromts]

2:51

[@inkyscrolls5193]

I know this from a British Transport Films production; can anyone remember which one?

[@dkbmaestrorules]

It's "Fully Fitted Freight": kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYK6oWx6gr-JbZY

[@inkyscrolls5193]

@@dkbmaestrorules Thank you!

[@inkyscrolls5193]

@@dkbmaestrorules Thank you!

[@jfrazer8197]

1.35

[@arctozolt8164]

0:05

[@freed4700]

7:23

[@bluerunner9378]

8:29

[@ggjjrrhm]

0:57

[@oliverwalters-clift8547]

7:39

[@NonInflatable]

Is there a technical problem on this? The tempo is far too fast.

[@whatadamnusername]

This tempo is no different than most other recordings of this piece, at least that I've heard.

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@whatadamnusername This is the CORRECT TEMPO, Many less able orchestras, deliberately slow it down.

[@FreakieFan]

A wonderful piece of music. Too bad all of the other movements of this incidental theatre music is truly earsplittingly awful.