Spirit Of RVW Returns To Dorking

I recently went to see a performance of the little-known opera Hugh the Drover, by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The production, by Hampstead Garden Opera - one of the most accomplished London productions of an opera outside the professional opera houses that I have seen - provided an interesting insight into the quintessentially English style of this national treasure and the man that the residents of Dorking, in Surrey came to know as their very own.

Gloucestershire-born, Ralph Vaughan Williams moved to Dorking in 1929, from Chelsea, completely immersing himself in the life of the Surrey town. He had already become conductor of the Leith Hill Music Festival, held in the Dorking Halls, in 1905 for the first concert and he continued in this capacity until 1953, so there are still people in and around Dorking who have sung under his baton. RVW of course wrote much of his music with the Festival in mind.

Although Hugh the Drover (1910-20) was a relatively early work it already showed touches of the inimitable RVW characteristics, including an ethereal ending reminiscent of a passage from The Lark Ascending. Later works, many of them written in Dorking, became more distinctive and we can still enjoy many of them in present-day Leith Hill Musical Festivals.

The festival programme for 2012 promises to be as exciting as ever, with two Requiems, two Glorias, one Messiah and a lively Handelian song of praise. In addition, the Youth Choirs will contribute their varied choice of repertoire on their competition day in March.

Programme:

Sunday 11 March: Messiah Handel; 7pm. Baroque orchestra Canzona will bring an instinctive and inspiring sense of period style to the performance.
Saturday 17 March: Open Competition for Youth Choirs; from 9am.
Thursday to Saturday 12-14 April: Competitions and concerts; Competitions 9.00 am – 1.00 pm; Concerts 7.30 pm
Thursday 12 April: Requiem Fauré; Gloria Karl Jenkins; with the English Festival Orchestra
Friday 13 April: Requiem Brahms
Saturday 14 April: Gloria Vivaldi; Sing Unto God Handel; This concert includes Sound Sleep by founding conductor Ralph Vaughan Williams, and The Seal Lullaby by popular American composer Eric Whitacre.
 
Tickets from £8; Season tickets available; LHMF Box Office 01403 240093 Boxoffice@lhmf.co.uk

Chris Wood is resident composer with Guest House Opera and editor of Epsom, Sutton and Cheam Time & Leisure.