A Sea Symphony

A Sea Symphony is a choral symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written between 1903 and 1909. Vaughan Williams's first and longest symphony, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910, with the composer conducting. The symphony's maturity belies the composer's relative youth when it was written (he was 30).

The symphony is scored for soprano, baritone, chorus and large orchestra consisting of two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, organ, and strings. It consists of settings of poems in Leaves of Grass by the American Walt Whitman, who was little known in England at the time.

The work represents a marked departure from the traditional Germanic symphonic tradition of the time. However, it follows a fairly standard symphonic outline: fast introductory movement, slow movement, scherzo, and finale.

The four movements are

• A Song for All Seas, All Ships (baritone, soprano, and chorus)
• On the Beach at Night, Alone (baritone and chorus)
• Scherzo: The Waves (chorus)
• The Explorers (baritone, soprano, semi-chorus, and chorus)

The first movement lasts roughly twenty minutes; the inner movements approximately twelve and eight minutes, and the finale lasts roughly thirty minutes.