Sancta Civitas ("The Holy City") is an
oratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the opera. Their similarities include the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
by
Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores...
. Written between 1923 and 1925, it received its first performance in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
in May 1926, during the
General StrikeThe 1926 General Strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted ten days, from 3 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions...
. Although its title is in Latin, the libretto is entirely in English, based upon texts from
RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
, as well as
Taverner's BibleTaverner's Bible, more correctly called The Most Sacred Bible whiche is the holy scripture, conteyning the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars by Rychard Taverner, is a minor revision of Matthew's Bible edited by...
and other sources. Late in life, Vaughan Williams would call
Sancta the favourite of his choral works.
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Sancta Civitas ("The Holy City") is an
oratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. The oratorio was somewhat modeled after the opera. Their similarities include the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
by
Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores...
. Written between 1923 and 1925, it received its first performance in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
in May 1926, during the
General StrikeThe 1926 General Strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted ten days, from 3 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions...
. Although its title is in Latin, the libretto is entirely in English, based upon texts from
RevelationThe Book of Revelation, also called the Revelation of St. John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is the last book of the New Testament. It may be shortened to Revelation but never Revelations...
, as well as
Taverner's BibleTaverner's Bible, more correctly called The Most Sacred Bible whiche is the holy scripture, conteyning the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars by Rychard Taverner, is a minor revision of Matthew's Bible edited by...
and other sources. Late in life, Vaughan Williams would call
Sancta the favourite of his choral works.
Orchestration
Sancta Civitas is scored for a full orchestra, with optional organ, as well as a mixed chorus, a semi-chorus, a "distant chorus" of boys, a baritone solo, and a tenor solo.
Vocal score
The piano reduction of the orchestral parts used in the vocal score was prepared by fellow composer
Havergal BrianWilliam "Havergal" Brian , was a British classical composer.Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the 32 symphonies he had managed to write, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart, and of which eight were completed...
.