Introduction:
What a great centerpiece to a concert centered around the theme of thankfulness! Vaughan Williams’1 15-minute-long work consists of a soloist, adult mixed choir, speaker, children’s choir, and orchestra and was commissioned by the BBC in late 1944 to be performed once the hoped-for and expected victory over the Axis powers was accomplished.
Here’s a description of the piece from the publisher of the sheet music, the Oxford University Press: “Originally entitled ‘Thanksgiving for Victory,’ ‘A Song of Thanksgiving’ is a powerful and moving work that celebrates the Allies’ victory in World War II. It was first recorded in 1944 while the war was still ongoing, but was not broadcast until victory had been achieved in May of the following year. Comprising seven movements, it sets texts from the Bible alongside words by Shakespeare and Kipling, lending the work a sense of timelessness and grandeur.”2
Isn’t it great that there was the will and the appetite after years of war and destruction to commission a piece of music to celebrate victory? There’s no information available on how much or whether Vaughan Williams was paid for the piece, and it’s rarely performed nowadays because it was written for a specific occasion. One reviewer on Amazon for a CD performance says, “Vaughan Williams’ ‘A Song of Thanksgiving’ is the greatest piece of music ever written that almost no one has heard.”