Faber Music is proud to publish a set of new definitive editions of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Wasps Suite and Overture, offering fresh insight into one of the composer’s most beloved orchestral works.

Originally composed in 1909 as incidental music for Aristophanes’ ancient Greek comedy The Wasps, Vaughan Williams’ music has since taken on a life of its own. The new Faber Music editions of the Suite and Overture produced in association with the Vaughan Williams Trust have been carefully prepared with reference to multiple sources and include extensive editorial notes.

 

 

Ralph Vaughan Williams was approached to write the incidental music for 'The Wasps Of Aristophanes' in late 1908. He had just returned from a period of concentrated study with Maurice Ravel and he seems to have approached the work as light relief and composed it with relative ease and speed. The first performance was given in the New Theatre, Cambridge on 26th November, 1909. In 1912, Vaughan Williams extracted a five-movement orchestral suite, arranged for slightly expanded orchestral forces. 
 
The five movements of the Suite are woven throughout with Vaughan Williams' distinctive folk-influenced style, from the buzzing and swarming Overture to the witty 'March Past of the Kitchen Utensils', and the jig-like ballet that closes the suite. 
 

Of these five movements, the Overture is a particular concert favourite. Buzzing noisily into life with stinging trills and scales, it subsides into beautiful folk-inflected melodies and lilting sections, before reaching its boisterous conclusion. 

Vocal scores and corresponding orchestral parts for both the Suite and Overture are available for hire from Faber Music, making these editions ideal for concert programming and academic study.

The Wasps Overture (Orchestra)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

£25.00

The Wasps Suite (Orchestra)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

£30.00

The Wasps (Voice)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

£30.00

March Past Of The Kitchen Utensils (Orchestra)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

£9.99