Vaughan Williams

Saylor's writing style is eminently readable; it flows like a stream, but is carefully documented, chock-a-block full of details and info in rapid succession, dense though it is. He is good at piecing together a life of details and tidbits; like Sherlock Holmes, he teases out snippets everywhere. * Marvin J. Ward, CVNC *
I had long believed that RVW was a highly under-appreciated composer, as well as somewhat misunderstood, & those concepts were hugely confirmed by this book; I had never imagined the breadth, depth, diversity, and extent of his works and his activities. * Marvin J. Ward, BA & MA, SUNY Albany; MA, Université Laval, Québec; Ph.D., UNC-CH, CVNC *
the great value of the book is Saylor's intelligent view of the music, notably his analyses and interpretations of the symphonies and other major works * Simon Heffer *
Vaughan Williams enthusiasts of all hues will want this; but prepare to be renedered breathless at the great man's astonishing energy * Andrew Green *
... a ground-breaking biography... [Saylor] approaches his subject with fresh ears and a host of thoroughly researched and well-rounded insights that look set to change the discourse surrounding the composer... Saylor's measured contribution to our understanding of Vaughan Williams is welcome, and can only add to our understanding... * Hugh Morris, The Guardian *
... a valuable study of Vaughan Williams's long life and multifarious work, one that will serve both the novice listener and the scholar. It is fair-minded and wide-ranging, both easy to read and unusually weighty for such a short book... recommended to anybody in search of information about this admirable man and creator. * Tim Page, Wall Street Journal *
This new study demands the attention of admirers of the composer; it will come as a salutary correction to those who continue to deny the composer's genius * Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion *
Few great twentieth-century composers are both as popular and as misunderstood as Ralph Vaughan Williams: a national icon whose broader significance for the music of his time, and ours, is only just beginning to be fully appreciated. And few artists pose as many challenges to the biographer and critic: an exceptionally long and rich life, a huge and varied body of work, and a reputation often based as much on mythology as fact. Eric Saylor's landmark new study is therefore especially impressive, as it elegantly weaves together a scrupulously researched yet always engaging account of Vaughan Williams's life and art, makes accessible the latest scholarship (including the revelatory rediscovery of the composer's early works), and offers along the way myriad new insights into a complicated personal life and iconic creations such as The Lark Ascending * Alain Frogley, University of Connecticut *
Eric Saylor's new biography of Vaughan Williams, one of Britain's greatest composers, is the first to take full account of research published in the last twenty years, of the hitherto unfamiliar early works of the composer published for the first time in the last 25 years, and of the online corpus of some 5000 letters written by him only recently made accessible. Saylor pulls all this together to give us a far more complete picture of the man and his works than we have had before. His book is a fitting tribute to Vaughan Williams for the 150th anniversary of his birth. * Hugh Cobbe, Director of the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust *
Saylor is generous and meticulous in his estimates of Vaughan Williams's writing,...Saylor shows us how Vaughan Williams wrote in almost every musical genre...Vaughan Williams's music speaks to Americans and to many others out of a particular national culture. * Allen C. Guelzo, Claremont Review of Books *
A must resource for scholarship on Vaughan Williams. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * Choice *
A must-have resource for scholarship on Vaughan Williams. * J. E. Druesedow Jr., CHOICE *
Saylor's biography is scrupulously researched yet thoroughly engaging, offering a fitting tribute on the 150th anniversary of his birth. * Mary Nemet, The Stringendo *
An impressively rich and satisfying picture of Vaughan Williams's overall achievement as man and musician. * Julian Onderdonk, Music and Letters *
Saylor has new things to say on a much-studied figure. Fresh angles and intelligent use of primary material mean there is value here for the expert, and his ability to throw information at the reader while telling an engaging story makes it admirably accessible for the novice. * Tiffany Hore, Folk Music Journal *
Eric Saylor's Vaughan Williams will be at the centre of the ongo-ing debate and discussion. * Julian Onderdonk, West Chester University of Pennsylvania *
While much of this book particularly the even-numbered chapters - would appeal primarily to those of a musicological bent, the odd chapters provide real insight into the man and his music, the sheer range of which provided "some of the most significant and influential contributions to English pastoral music in the twentieth century, and powerfully affected the tastes and aesthetics of British musicians and audiences for many years to come". * J. Barrington Bates, Anglican and Episcopal History *