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Affairs of the Heart

Donald Macleod discusses the unusual role a drama student, Ursula Wood, found herself playing in the lives of Ralph and his then wife, Adeline.

Celebrating British Music: It was at a performance of Vaughan Williams's Job at Sadler's Wells that his music first caught the attention of the young drama student and aspiring poet Ursula Wood. Though they didn't meet for another five years, it would be the catalyst to a love affair which lasted until Vaughan Williams's death twenty years later. This week, Donald Macleod focuses on those highly productive later years, touching on Ursula and Ralph's blossoming relationship through the war years. Donald looks at the unusual role Ursula found herself playing in the lives of Ralph and his then wife Adeline, and the all too brief but intensely happy marriage to Ursula for the last five years of Vaughan Williams's life.

1 hour

Last on

Mon 11 Aug 2014 18:30

Music Played

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Serenade to music for 16 soloists (or 4 soloists & chorus) & orchestra

    Singer: John Mark Ainsley. Singer: Lisa Milne. Singer: Rosa Mannion. Conductor: Sir Roger Norrington. Singer: Stephen Roberts. Singer: Christopher Maltman. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Singer: Toby Spence. Singer: Catherine Wyn-Rogers. Singer: Ann Murray. Singer: Yvonne Kenny. Singer: Michael George. Singer: Della Jones. Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Singer: Diana Montague. Singer: Robert Lloyd. Singer: Felicity Lott. Singer: Timothy Robinson.
    • DECCA : 467-047 2.
    • DECCA.
    • 6.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    5 Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus' for string orchestra & harp[s]

    Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • NAXOS : 8.-557798.
    • NAXOS.
    • 4.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Five Tudor Portraits – I: The Tale of Elinor Rumming

    Orchestra: London S O.. Choir: London Symphony Chorus. Singer: Jean Rigby.
    • CHANDOS : CHAN-9593.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Riders to the sea - opera in 1 act:Riders to the Sea "Bartley will be lost now."

    Singer: Ingrid Attrot. Singer: Lynne Dawson. Conductor: Richard Hickox. Singer: Linda Finnie. Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Singer: Pamela Helen Stephen.
    • CHANDOS : CHAN-9392.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 8.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Job - a masque for dancing: Scene II: Satan's Dance of Triumph

    Conductor: Barry Wordsworth. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • COLLINS CLASSICS : 11242-COL.
    • COLLINS CLASSICS.
    • 2.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 3 Jun 2013 12:00
  • Mon 3 Jun 2013 18:15
  • Mon 11 Aug 2014 18:30

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