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| Category | Genre | Cat no. | Title | Index date | Opening theme | Subtitle | Other contributor(s) | Performing forces | Movements | Text | Composition dates | Dating notes | First performance | Publication | Recorded? | Dedication | Manuscript | Arrangements | Notes | Kennedy ref. | References | ||||
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| 1. Instrumental | 1.1 Symphonies | 1.1.01 | A Sea Symphony (No. 1) | 1909 |  | Yes | Yes | Soprano solo, baritone solo, SATB chorus, orchestra. 3 fl (I=picc), 2 ob, ca, 2 cl, ebcl, bcl, 2 bsn, cbsn, 4 hn, 3 tpt, 3 trbn, tuba, timp, percussion (tgl, SD, BD, Cym), hp (doubled if possible), org, strings. Reduced instrumentation: 2 fl (I=picc), ob, ca, 2 cl, 2 bn, 4 hn, 3 tpt, 3 trbn, tuba, timp, percussion, hp, strings. | I. Song for All Seas, All Ships II. On the beach at night, alone III. Scherzo (The Waves) IV. The Explorers | Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass | 1903-09. Revised 1910, 1951 | 'The first sketches for this work (namely, parts of the Scherzo and slow movement) were made in 1903, and it was gradually worked out during the next seven years' (Composer's programme note, KW, p. 50). At some point, Vaughan Williams tells us he 'spent several hours at the British Museum studying the full scores of the [Enigma] Variations and Gerontius. The results are obvious in the opening pages of the finale of my Sea Symphony' (VW, NMOE, p. 188). In a letter, from around summer 1907, Vaughan Williams writes 'I have really finished my magnum opus ... it is all about the sea and is for every conceivable voice & instrument & takes over an hour to perform' (VWL 153). However, Vaughan Williams did make further revisions, writing later that 'the sketch was completed in 1907 and revised and scored in 1908 and 9 - When the festival Ctee accepted it last year it had another clean up & finally during the last 6 months I have been revising the full score which meant re-copying most of it' (VWL 331). The published vocal score carries the date 1909, ahead of the first performance in October 1910. The work was slightly revised between the first performance and later performances given in Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol (programme note, KW, p. 50 or VWOM, pp. 335-6.). This included a meeting with Lucy Broadwood, six days after the premiere. Broadwood writes in her diary that 'Ralph Vaughan Williams came to find out why vocal parts were drowned by his orchestra. We spent some hours in going thro' the whole of his "Sea Symphony", he pruning & altering' (see Lucy Broadwood Diary, 18 October 1910, below). In 1951 and 1952, Vaughan Williams sent minor revisions to the score to John Russell, the Halle librarian (VWL 2277 , VWL 2278, VWL 2360). | 12 October 1910, Leeds Town Hall (Leeds Musical Festival) Leeds Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Cicely Gleeson-White (soprano), Campbell McInnes (baritone), Ralph Vaughan Williams (conductor) | Vocal score: Breitkopf & Härtel (1909) Revised vocal score: Stainer & Bell (1918) Full score: Stainer & Bell (1924) | Yes | To R. L. W. [Ralph Wedgwood, cousin of Vaughan Williams] | BL Add MS 50361A-H: eight notebooks containing sketches and drafts BL Add MS 50362A-K: eleven notebooks containing sketches and drafts, including short score of a deleted movement 'The Steersman' (BL Add MS 50362G, ff.2-6) BL Add MS 50363: drafts and sketches BL Add MS 50364: proof of vocal score with autograph corrections BL Add MS 50365A-B: autograph full score BL Add MS 50366A-D: printed full score with autograph corrections BL Add MS 57294C: sketches BL Add MS 71542, ff.1-7: autograph corrections from 1951 and 1958 (see also VWL 2278) A further sketchbook is privately owned (see KC, p. 53). | Second movement, organ, arr. Henry G. Ley, Stainer & Bell (1922). Reprinted in A Vaughan Williams Organ Anthology: four classic arrangements by Henry G. Ley, Stainer & Bell (2013) | 1909/03 | Genesis:
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| 1. Instrumental | 1.1 Symphonies | 1.1.02 | A London Symphony (No. 2) | 1913 | Yes | Yes | 4 fl (III=picc), 2 ob, ca, 2 cl, bcl, 2 bsn, cbsn, 4 hn, 2 tpt, 2 crt, 3 trb, tuba, timp, perc (SD, tgl, BD, Cym, jingles, Tam-t, glsp), 2 hp, strings Reduced instrumentation: no 3rd fl, 2nd ob=ca, no tpts, no bcl, no cbsn, 1 hp | I. Lento – Allegro risoluto II. Lento III. Scherzo (Nocturne). Allegro vivace IV. Finale. Andante con moto – maestoso alla Marcia (quasi lento) – allegro – maestoso alla Marcia – Epilogue, Andante sostenuto | c. 1913, rev. 1918, c. 1919-20, c. 1933 | The first version was completed by the end of 1913 (KC, p. 67), but we do not know when composition began. It was revised for performances in March 1918 and later in the same year. It was further revised for performance in May 1920. It was revised again for publication and performance in 1934. See KC, pp. 67-72. | Version 1: 27 March 1914, Queen's Hall Queen's Hall Orchestra, Geoffrey Toye (conductor) Version 2: 18 March 1918, Queen's Hall New Queen's Hall Orchestra, Adrian Boult (conductor) Version 3: 4 May 1920, Queen's Hall London Symphony Orchestra, Albert Coates (conductor) Version 4: 2 February 1934, Queen's Hall London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor) | Version 1: not published Version 2: not published Version 3: Stainer & Bell (1920) Version 4: Stainer & Bell (1936), labelled 'revised edition' | Yes | Versions 3 and 4: To the memory of George Butterworth. | BL Add MS 50367A: sketches BL Add MS 50367B: autograph piano score with many revisions BL Add MS 50368A-D: copy of original version in several hands, with autograph revisions BL Add MS 51317A-D: full score, partly autograph, with autograph revision (reconstruction from parts after the original full score was sent to Germany in 1914 and lost) BL Add MS 57287: copy of piano duet of second movement, 2nd part only | Piano solo, arr. Vally Lasker, Stainer & Bell (1922) Piano duet, arr. Archibald Jacob, Stainer & Bell (1924) Second movement, organ, arr. Henry G. Ley, Stainer & Bell (1922) | 1913/05 | Genesis:
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