Iphigenia in Tauris incidental music for chorus and orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ incidental music for Gilbert Murray’s English translation of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris is edited and arranged for orchestra by Alan Tongue. Vaughan Williams was brought into the production of three Greek plays by the dancer Isadora Duncan, with the public performance taking place at London’s Royal Court Theatre on Friday 31 May 1912. A preview of the production, appearing in The Globe, remarked of Vaughan Williams’ musical settings: “they are an attempt at something new, and something which is neither German nor French. This music is no experiment in style. It would seem, rather, as though the composer had disclaimed all styles and all schools, and found direct inspiration in the material of the poet’s inspiration, and the result is something of undeniable beauty.”