The Passions of Vaughan Williams

Fifty years after his death, this musical and psychological portrait of Ralph Vaughan Williams explores the passions that drove the giant of 20th century English music. It explores the enormous musical range of an energetic, red-blooded composer whose output extends well beyond the delicate pastoralism he is perhaps best known for. This feature-length documentary tells the story of his long marriage to his increasingly disabled wife Adeline, and his long affair with the woman who eventually became his second wife, Ursula. The effect of these complicated relationships on his music is demonstrated in performances of orchestral and choral works by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox, and by the singers of Schola Cantorum of Oxford.