The Lark Ascending - Romance for Violin and Orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams was born on October 12, 1872, in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England, the son of a clergyman. He was educated at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College in Cambridge University, after which he became organist of St. Barnabas' Church in London. Vaughan Williams developed a national style of music deriving from English choral tradition, especially of the Tudor period, and folksong. In 1910 he completed his first significant composition, the "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" for strings. After serving in World War I, Vaughan Williams was appointed the Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music and conductor of London's Bach Choir. He continued to compose until his death in London on August. 26, 1958 As well as nine symphonies, Vaughan Williams also composed the ballet Job (1930), the opera The Pilgrim's Progress (1948-9), and numerous choral works, songs, and hymns, including an adaptation of "To Be A Pilgrim." He also wrote for films, such as Scott of the Antarctic (1948).

Vaughan Williams started working on The Lark during the summer of 1914. He was inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. He composed it for violin and piano in the early weeks of the Great War and is said to have imagined the world of his youth disappearing with the lark into the cloudless sky.

The war halted Vaughan Williams' composing, during which he served as an ambulance driver. He re-scored The Lark for solo violin and orchestra in 1920 with the help of the English violinist Marie Hall. The soaring and fluttering of the violin represent the song of the lark.