Thanks to the determination of a choir member at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, the Minneapolis church is going to present the world premiere of "Vexilla Regis," written by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams 115 years ago.
Dave Fielding, a bass in the choir and a self-described music sleuth, discovered the piece listed in the back of a 1964 biography of the composer, who started writing music when he was 6. In addition to an extensive body of church music, he wrote movie scores, symphonies, operas and ballets.
Fielding realized that there was no publisher listed for "Vexilla Regis." Nor was there any notation that it had ever been performed. After doing some detective work, he discovered that the piece was written in 1894 as part of Vaughan Williams' class work at Cambridge University and had been filed away in the school's library ever since.
"The library put me in touch with the Vaughan Williams Society," Fielding said. "We had to convince them that we knew what we were doing. Fortunately, the cathedral has done other Vaughan Williams pieces over the years, plus we've done other premieres. It also helped that [St. Mark's music director] Ray Johnston was a graduate of Cambridge."
The library took detailed digital photos of all 84 pages of the composition and e-mailed them to Fielding, who then began the laborious process of translating the piece into workable copies, using music notation software.
That was last May. At 7:30 p.m. today, a 100-voice choir accompanied by a string orchestra and organ will bring the music to life at long last. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, at the cathedral, 519 Oak Grove St., Minneapolis.
Because of legal restrictions, the performance will not be recorded.
"So, this is it," Fielding said. "But this is my passion: to find classic old works that never got a hearing or have been forgotten and give them a second chance."
