ABSTRACT
The appearance in 1948 of Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony created both an overwhelmingly favorable impression and a certain degree of incomprehension. Three manuscript sources for the Sixth Symphony are in the British Library: an incomplete holograph short score, a complete fair copy of the short score prepared by Michael Mullinar with additions and revisions in Vaughan Williams's hand; and a holograph full score containing extensive revisions. The symphony was sufficiently complete for the composer to hear it played through at the piano by Michael Mullinar, his friend and former student, to whom the symphony is dedicated. The second movement, the continuation of the Scherzo, and the piano solo and two-piano versions of the last movement are each bound in a small volume. One of the most extensive revisions of the symphony, between rehearsals 14 and 16 in the Scherzo, concerns the trio theme scored for saxophone solo.
