Ralph Vaughan Williams: Quotes about art

Ralph Vaughan Williams was English composer. Explore interesting quotes on art.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: 26   quotes 0   likes

“The art of music above all the other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation.”

Ralph Vaughan Williams

National Music (1934) p. 123.

Art , Music , Soul

“Film contains potentialities for the combination of all the arts such as Wagner never dreamt of.”

Ralph Vaughan Williams

"Film Music", The R. C. M. Magazine, February 1944.

Art

“Before going any further may we take it that the object of art is to obtain a partial revelation of that which is beyond human senses and human faculties – of that, in fact, which is spiritual? And that the means which we employ to induce this revelation are those very senses and faculties themselves?”

Ralph Vaughan Williams

"The Letter and the Spirit", in the journal Music and Letters, vol. 1 (1920) p. 88.

Art , Sense

“Art for art's sake has never flourished in England. We are often called inartistic because our art is unconscious. Our drama and poetry, like our laws and our constitution, have evolved by accident while we thought we were doing something else, and so it will be with music. The composer must not shut himself up and think about art, he must live with his fellows and make his art an expression of the whole life of the community – if we seek for art we shall not find it.”

Ralph Vaughan Williams

"Who Wants the English Composer?" (1912); cited from Ursula Vaughan Williams RVW (1964) pp. 101-2.

Life , Law , Art , Music