Strunk

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the Masterworks Chorale and Shepherd University Chamber Singers will be bringing three works by celebrated English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Frank Arts Center stage.

The works — the cantatas “Dona Nobis Pacem” and “In Windsor Forest” and the anthem “O How Amiable” — highlight Williams’ varying perspectives on life, hope and peace, after serving in France and Greece as an ambulance orderly for the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War I.

“Vaughan Williams is writing at a very unique time in history, at the start of mechanized warfare,” said Shepherd University Director of Choral and Vocal Activities Jason Strunk. “That was what was remarkable about World War I — we had all of these technological advances. The carnage in war was pretty rough, before that, but during World War I, the experience was notably worse.”

He noted that Williams was one of a number of people who turned to art after the war, as a means of self expression and healing.

“Out of that, England emerged as this incredible artistic power on the world stage. Writers like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and so many composers were all trying to heal the common trauma of war, in the British Isles — they were all trying to figure it out for themselves and to help others figure it out,” Strunk said. “Vaughan Williams was particularly masterful at weaving in the folk tunes of the people through his works, which can be seen in two of the pieces we will be performing.”

For these reasons, Strunk said he has long admired the composer’s masterful creations and, with a portion of the Masterworks Chorale set to perform the composer’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” under Strunk’s conducting at Carnegie Hall next spring, it seemed like an obvious choice to create a concert surrounding that and some of Williams’ other works.

“This is a really beautiful and profoundly moving piece of music,” Strunk said. “Vaughan Williams was dealing with his trauma from World War I. He wrote this piece in 1935, when there was a rise of authoritarianism and fascism in Europe. He writes this as sort of a warning against World War II.”

The cantata, along with many of the composer’s other works, features familiar English folk tunes and texts for a particular purpose — one that further unites them with other works by his contemporaries.

“He’s kind of similar to Tolkien, for example. Tolkien wrote ‘The Hobbit’ because he realized there was no English mythology. He wanted to find this English identity,” Strunk said. “Vaughan Williams also wanted to find this English identity, as a means of healing from the war.”

Tickets may be purchased online, at https://shepherdrams.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1755, or at the box office in the Frank Arts Center lobby on the night of the concert. The cost is $15 for general admission; $10 for Shepherd University alumni, faculty and staff; and nothing for Shepherd University students. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to show time.