The Pilgrim's Progress is an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. The composer himself described the work as a 'Morality' rather than an opera, while nonetheless he intended the work to be performed on stage, rather than in a church or cathedral. Vaughan Williams himself prepared the libretto, with interpolations from the Bible and also text from his wife, Ursula. His changes to the story includ...
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The Pilgrim's Progress is an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. The composer himself described the work as a 'Morality' rather than an opera, while nonetheless he intended the work to be performed on stage, rather than in a church or cathedral. Vaughan Williams himself prepared the libretto, with interpolations from the Bible and also text from his wife, Ursula. His changes to the story included altering the name of the central character from 'Christian' to 'Pilgrim', so as to universalize the spiritual message.
The musical gestation of this opera was protracted, and was reflected in a number of musical projects in Vaughan Williams' life. For example, the familiar hymn 'Who would true valor see' is sung by the chorus in Act II, Scene I, from a tune written in 1906. Vaughan Williams' earlier one-act opera The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, from 1921, was incorporated into Act IV, Scene 2 of the later opera. His Symphony No....
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