Vaughan Williams wrote this piece as a tribute to the conductor Sir Henry Wood to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Wood's first concert. The solo parts were composed specifically for the voices of sixteen eminent British singers chosen by Wood and the composer. In some parts of the work, the soloists sing together as a "choir," sometimes in as many as twelve parts; in others, each soloist is allotted a solo (some soloists get multiple solos). The published score places the initials of each soloist next to his or her lines.

Wood conducted the first performance at his jubilee concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 October 1938. Sergei Rachmaninoff played in the first half of the concert as soloist in his Second Piano Concerto; when he heard the Serenade from his place in the audience, he was so overcome by the beauty of the music that he wept.

The text for this work is an adaptation of the discussion about music and the music of the spheres in Act V, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Vaughan Williams later arranged the piece into versions for chorus and orchestra and solo violin and orchestra.

Images

I took these images, including the moon, near my home in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England.

Musicians

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Performers: Norma Burrowes, Sheila Armstrong, Marie Hayward, Gloria Jennings, Shirley Minty, Meriel Dickinson, Alfreda Hodgson, Bernard Dickerson, Wynford Evans, Kenneth Bowen, Ian Partridge, Christopher Keyte, John Noble, John Carol Case, Richard Angas
Conductor: Sir Adrian Boult
(c) EMI 1969 (remastered in 1987)

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