Think cool thoughts with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sinfonia Antartica” – his Symphony No. 7 – spun off of his score for the Ealing Studios film “Scott of the Antarctic” (1948).
The fatal polar expedition of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions enthralled the composer, who responded with music evocative of ice and wind, penguins and whales, and inexorable snows. Vaughan Williams wrote most of the score before even seeing the film.
The symphony is scored for large orchestra, including vibraphone, pianoforte, organ, and wind machine, with wordless women’s chorus and soprano soloist.
It falls into five movements – Prelude, Scherzo, Landscape, Intermezzo, and Epilogue – with the third movement leading directly into the fourth. The scherzo is propelled by whales and penguins. The “landscape” in question is the icy wasteland of Ross Island.
The score itself includes brief literary quotations – from Shelley, the Biblical Book of Psalms, Coleridge, Donne, and Captain Scott’s Last Journal – at the head of each movement. These are sometimes declaimed in performance and recordings, though the composer did not indicate that they were intended to be spoken.
The title of the work is frequently misspelled, since the composer opts for the Italian “Antartica” (spelled with only one “c”) – a decision he made at the last minute, so as to keep it consistent with his use of the Italian word “Sinfonia.”
Vaughan Williams was 80 years-old when he completed the symphony in 1952. It received its first public performance on January 14, 1953. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the Hallé Orchestra.
The tragic dimension of the overall tone of the symphony is unmistakable, with man’s endeavors insignificant in the face of implacable nature.
Here’s hoping your reception is a chilly one!
