It’s easy, when composing for something like a string orchestra to simply think of it as 5-parts: the 1st Violins, 2nd Violins, Violas, Cellos and Double Basses.

Yet, these sections of a string orchestra are made up of several players.

In his composition Dives and Lazarus, Vaughan Williams experiments with this fact, doubling solo lines, and blending full and divided sections.

For example, in one section of the piece he doubles violas with a solo cello on the melody.

A different sonority, to one or the other alone. the body of the many violas cradles the solo cello’s lyricism.

In another section, RVW blends the full 1st Violin section with half of the violas and cellos, creating a richly sonorous sound, while still having plenty of personnel left in the orchestra to provide harmony and accompaniment.

This short article is a supplement to our longer article that analyses the string orchestration of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.