One of my favorite symphonies, the Symphony No. 5 by Ralph Vaughan Williams, makes today’s ”Composers Datebook.” As you’ll read (or hear) at the link below, the work was fir0st performed on this date, at a time of great anxiety, in 1943. Vaughan Williams was 75-years-old.

In contrast to many wartime symphonies, there is no tub-thumbing patriotism or gestures of defiance in RVW’s 5th. Instead, the composer takes the long view, sharing a larger vision of hope and serenity. The work surely resonated with listeners who lived through the Blitz, and even in 1943 continued to endure nightly air raids. The concert took place at Royal Albert Hall, because German bombings had gutted Queen’s Hall, the traditional venue of the summertime Proms. Also, it was held during the day, so that people could get back to their homes before London could be menaced after dark.

Reflected in the work is not only the soul of a nation, assimilating England’s proud sacred and secular musical traditions; it also exudes a unshakeable belief in our shared humanity. Contrast that with the anxiety, turbulence, and violence of the Symphony 4, completed in 1935, a time when the storm clouds were gathering – although the composer persistently denied any external influences. He always stood by his assertion that there was nothing at all programmatic about the work, and that he wrote what he wrote because he was compelled to write it. It was a wholly abstract piece of music.

The 5th symphony, on the other hand, shares themes with his long-gestating opera, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” after John Bunyan’s popular Christian allegory; but again, there is no definitive extra-musical program. The composer himself stepped in for an indisposed Henry Wood to conduct the symphony’s premiere.

The work was dedicated to Jean Sibelius. Sibelius confided in a letter to Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg (who, in turn, was in touch with Vaughan Williams champion Adrian Boult), “This Symphony is a marvelous work… the dedication made me feel proud and grateful… I wonder if Dr. Williams has any idea of the pleasure he has given me?”

The music is transcendent in its luminosity. Why Vaughan Williams’ symphonies are not performed more often in the U.S. is a mystery. It’s probably just that people, even conductors, don’t really know the music. If it’s not “The Lark Ascending” or the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” they don’t even give it a second – or even a first – thought.

Which is a real shame, because the world can certainly use more reminders of the kind of positivity and reassurance expressed in the Symphony No. 5.

Listen to ”Composers Datebook” at the link.

https://www.yourclassical.org/episode/2026/06/24/composers-dateboo-ralph-vaughan-williams

Adrian Boult conducts the symphony here: