Vaughan Williams choral work to premiere next year

An unperformed choral work composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams more than 100 years ago will be premiered next year.

 

The 45-minute piece, called A Cambridge Mass, was discovered during an exhibition at the Cambridge University Library.

 

Conductor Alan Tongue, who found the piece, said: “I knew immediately that here was a significant work.”

 

Mr Tongue will conduct the concert, which will take place in March.

 

The score, written for soloists, double chorus and orchestra, was composed when Vaughan Williams was aged 26.

 

He wrote it in 1899 for his Doctor of Music examination at Cambridge University and still has pencil markings made by the examiners.

 

It has been kept in storage at the library’s manuscripts room and up until now had been overlooked.