Symphony No. 4 (Vaughan Williams)

The Symphony No. 4 in F minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams was dedicated by the composer to Arnold Bax.

Unlike Vaughan Williams's first three symphonies it was not given a title, the composer stating that it was to be understood as "pure music", without any incidental or external inspiration.

In contrast to Vaughan Williams's previous compositions, the symphony is characterised by a severity of tone. The British composer William Walton admired the work greatly, speaking of it as "the greatest symphony since Beethoven", and the score certainly contains many innovations. Speaking about this work, Vaughan Williams said, "I don't know whether I like it, but it's what I meant."

The work was first performed on April 10, 1935 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Boult.

The work is in four movements (the third and fourth are linked).

#Allegro
#Andante moderato
#Scherzo : allegro molto
#Finale con epilogo fugato : allegro molto

A typical performance takes about 30 minutes.

Trivia

*All performances and recordings made of this work before the mid-1950's use the original version of the flute solo that closes the second movement; the composer finally decided to change the last note to E from F at that time.Fact|date=April 2008

*The composer himself conducted the first recording of the work, made in October 1937 with the BBC Symphony. It has generally been seen as being among the finest performances of the work ever recorded.Fact|date=April 2008 This fact makes it all the more unfortunate Fact|date=April 2008 that the composer did not get the opportunity to make studio recordings of more of his music.

*The Klingon theme, used by Jerry Goldsmith in his scores for Star Trek since the original, resembles the beginning of the 3rd movement of this symphony. According to an interview given by Jerry Goldsmith, this tradition was started by the original series composer, Alexander Courage.Fact|date=February 2007

*The final movement makes highly prominent use of the well known B-A-C-H motive. Fact|date=April 2008 This, like the also popular "dies irae", has been a favorite referential motive of many famous composers since the time of J.S. Bach, to whom the theme is meant to refer. Bach used the theme himself as a sort of musical signature.