A RVW Premiere

It’s always amazing and exciting when a new composition by a significant composer from an earlier generation is discovered and heard for the first time. The Fairfax Choral Society had the privilege of presenting the Washington-area premieres of two newly-discovered works when we presented Felix Mendelssohn’s Magnificat in 1995 and George Frederic Handel’s Gloria in 2001.

Recently, a previously unknown choral work composed over 100 years ago by Ralph Vaughan Williams was discovered inan exhibition of music manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library. Conductor Alan Tongue, who found the 45-minute piece, entitled A Cambridge Mass, said: “I knew immediately that here was a significant work.” Mr. Tongue will conduct the world premiere, which will take place in March 2011.

The score, written for soloists, double chorus and orchestra, was composed when Vaughan Williams was aged 26. He wrote it in 1899 for his Doctor of Music examination at Cambridge University and it still has pencil markings made by the examiners. It has been kept in storage at the library's manuscripts room and up until now had been overlooked.

After Mr Tongue's discovery, he obtained a copy of the original score and spent last year transcribing it to make a modern performing edition. “It soon became clear that no performance had ever taken place as there were too many uncorrected mistakes,” he said. “As my computer played the synthesized sounds, just imagine, I was privileged to be the first person to hear the work.”

Here is a video clip featuring excerpts of the Mass being played on the piano by 20-year-old Kausikan Rajeshkumar, currently a final-year music student at Trinity College, Cambridge.