Musical recycling: A study and comparison of Ralph Vaughn Williams' film score for

Abstract

This thesis discusses two aspects of Vaughan Williams' 7th Symphony. Comparison of Sinfonia Antartica and the film "Scott of the Antarctic" reveals that the symphony is a direct derivative of the film score and that the symphony contains no original motivic material of its own. Only minor changes to the film score, such as chronology, orchestration, extensions, and the like, were necessary to rework the material into its symphonic form. The second aspect under discussion is the symphony's harmonic language. The problem with the harmonic content is that the relationships between chords do not follow functional harmonic procedures. However, the harmonic materials used in this symphony can be illuminated through analysis techniques found in the writings of Ernst Kurth, an early twentieth century theorist and specialist in Romantic music.