There is no small irony in the fact that Vaughan Williams’s contributions to sacred music reveal a powerful understanding of and respect for religious faith, given his own lack of it. Yet in making his many contributions to hymnody and other genres of liturgical music—as well as non-liturgical pieces with sacred themes—Vaughan Williams hoped to elevate listeners to the same level of inspiration that he experienced when composing, or when he engaged with the works of visionary artists like Walt Whitman, George Meredith, William Blake, John Bunyan, and George Herbert. This talk will examine the complex and often contradictory nature of Vaughan Williams’s conception of religious belief, and the different artists and works that informed his own creative responses to such visionary and mystical topics.

Saturday, April 23 at 3:30PM

First Presbyterian Church, Wilson Hall
981 Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo