Romanticism (or the Romantic Era or the "'Romantic Period"') was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and natural history.

The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and terror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, made of spontaneity a desirable character (as in the musical impromptu), and argued for a "natural" epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the form of language and customary usage.

Romanticism reached beyond the rational and Classicist ideal models to elevate a revived medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to be authentically medieval, in an attempt to escape the confines of population growth, urban sprawl, and industrialism, and it also attempted to embrace the exotic, unfamiliar, and distant in modes more authentic than Rococo ''chinoiserie'', harnessing the power of the imagination to envision and to escape.

The modern sense of a romantic character may be expressed in Byronic ideals of a gifted, perhaps misunderstood loner, creatively following the dictates of his inspiration rather than the standard ways of contemporary society.

Although the movement was rooted in the German ''Sturm und Drang'' movement, which prized intuition and emotion over Enlightenment rationalism, the ideologies and events of the French Revolution laid the background from which both Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment emerged. The confines of the Industrial Revolution also had their influence on Romanticism, which was in part an escape from modern realities; indeed, in the second half of the 19th century, "Realism" was offered as a polarized opposite to Romanticism. Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it perceived as heroic individualists and artists, whose pioneering examples would elevate society. It also legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a ''zeitgeist'', in the representation of its ideas.

Characteristics

In a basic sense, the term "Romanticism" has been used to refer to certain artists, poets, writers, musicians, as well as political, philosophical and social thinkers of the late 18th and early to mid 19th centuries. It has equally been used to refer to various artistic, intellectual, and social trends of that era. Despite this general usage of the term, a precise characterization and specific definition of Romanticism have been the subject of debate in the fields of intellectual history and literary history throughout the 20th century, without any great measure of consensus emerging.

Arthur Lovejoy attempted to demonstrate the difficulty of defining Romanticism in his seminal article "On The Discrimination of Romanticisms" in his ''Essays in the History of Ideas'' (1948); some scholars see romanticism as essentially continuous with the present, some like Robert Hughes see in it the inaugural moment of modernity, some like Chateaubriand, 'Novalis' and Samuel Taylor Coleridge see it as the beginning of a tradition of resistance to Enlightenment rationalism—a 'Counter-Enlightenment'— to be associated most closely with German Romanticism. Still others place it firmly in the direct aftermath of the French Revolution. An earlier definition comes from Charles Baudelaire: "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling."

Counter-Enlightenment

Many intellectual historians have seen Romanticism as a key movement in the Counter-Enlightenment, a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment. Whereas the thinkers of the Enlightenment emphasized the primacy of reason, Romanticism emphasized intuition, imagination, and feeling, to a point that has led to some Romantic thinkers being accused of irrationalism.

Romanticism focuses on Nature: a place free from society's judgement and restrictions. Romanticism blossomed after the age of Rationalism, a time that focused on hardwork and scientific reasoning.

Genius, originality, authorship

The Romantic movement developed the idea of the absolute originality and artistic inspiration by the individual genius, which performs a "creation from nothingness;" this is the so-called Romantic ideology of literary authorship, which created the notion of plagiarism and the guilt of a derivativeness. This idea is often called "romantic originality." The romantic poets' turned their beliefs on originality into "the institution of originality." The English poet John Milton, who lived in the 17th century, was part of the origin of the concept.

This idea was in contrast with the preceding artistic tradition, in which copying had been seen as a fundamental practice of the creative process; and has been especially challenged since the beginning of the 20th century, with the boom of the modernist and postmodern movements.

==Romanticism and music==

Although the term "Romanticism" when applied to music has come to imply the period roughly from the 1820s until around 1900, the contemporary application of "romantic" to music did not coincide with this modern interpretation. In 1810 E.T.A. Hoffmann called Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven the three "Romantic Composers", and Ludwig Spohr used the term "good Romantic style" to apply to parts of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Technically, Mozart and Haydn are considered Classical composers, and by most standards, Beethoven represents the start of the musical Romantic period. By the early 20th century, the sense that there had been a decisive break with the musical past led to the establishment of the 19th century as "The Romantic Era", and it is referred to as such in the standard encyclopedias of music. The traditional modern discussion of the music of Romanticism includes elements, such as the growing use of folk music, which are also directly related to the broader current of Romantic nationalism in the arts as well as aspects already present in 18th-century music, such as the ''cantabile'' accompanied melody to which Romantic composers beginning with Franz Schubert applied restless key modulations.

The heightened contrasts and emotions of ''Sturm und Drang'' (German for "storm and stress") seem a precursor of the Gothic novel in literature, or the sanguinary elements of some of the operas of the period of the French Revolution. The libretti of Lorenzo da Ponte for Mozart's eloquent music convey a new sense of individuality and freedom. The romantic generation viewed Beethoven as their ideal of a heroic artist—a man who first dedicated a symphony to Consul Bonaparte as a champion of freedom and then challenged Emperor Napoleon by striking him out from the dedication of the Eroica Symphony. In Beethoven's ''Fidelio'' he creates the apotheosis of the 'rescue operas' which were another feature of French musical culture during the revolutionary period, in order to hymn the freedom which underlay the thinking of all radical artists in the years of hope after the Congress of Vienna.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's wide ranging output includes symphonies, operas, ballets, instrumental and chamber music and songs. He wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and opera Eugene Onegin.

In the contemporary music culture, the romantic musician followed a public career depending on sensitive middle-class audiences rather than on a courtly patron, as had been the case with earlier musicians and composers. Public persona characterized a new generation of virtuosi who made their way as soloists, epitomized in the concert tours of Paganini and Liszt.

Beethoven's use of tonal architecture in such a way as to allow significant expansion of musical forms and structures was immediately recognized as bringing a new dimension to music. His later piano music and string quartets, especially, showed the way to a completely unexplored musical universe. E.T.A. Hoffmann was able to write of the supremacy of instrumental music over vocal music in expressiveness, a concept which would previously have been regarded as absurd. Hoffmann himself, as a practitioner both of music and literature, encouraged the notion of music as "programmatic" or narrative, an idea which new audiences found attractive. Early 19th century developments in instrumental technology—iron frames for pianos, wound metal strings for string instruments—enabled louder dynamics, more varied tone colours, and the potential for sensational virtuosity. Such developments swelled the length of pieces, introduced programmatic titles, and created new genres such as the free-standing concert overture or tone poem, the piano fantasia, nocturne and rhapsody, and the virtuosic concerto, which became central to musical romanticism. In opera, a new Romantic atmosphere combining supernatural terror and melodramatic plot in a folkloric context was first successfully achieved by Weber's ''Der Freischütz'' (1817, revised 1821). Enriched timbre and color marked the early orchestration of Hector Berlioz in France, and the grand operas of Meyerbeer. Amongst the radical fringe of what became mockingly characterised (adopting Wagner's own words) as "artists of the future", Liszt and Wagner each embodied the Romantic cult of the free, inspired, charismatic, perhaps ruthlessly unconventional individual artistic personality.

The Romantic-era ballet freed itself both from opera, in which a ballet interlude retained an essential role only in Paris, and from court fêtes, and independently paralleled the developments of opera with explicit narrative libretti, expressed in lengthy passages of mime, the universal presence of impetuous or ill-fated young love, the supremacy of the ballerina and the choice often of supernatural subjects: ''Giselle'' (1841) remains the supreme example.

It is the period of 1815 to 1848 which must be regarded as the true age of Romanticism in music – the age of the last compositions of Beethoven (d. 1827) and Schubert (d. 1828), of the works of Schumann (d. 1856) and Chopin (d.1849), of the early struggles of Berlioz and Richard Wagner, of the great virtuosi such as Paganini (d. 1840), and the young Liszt and Thalberg. Now that we are able to listen to the work of Mendelssohn (d. 1847) stripped of the Biedermeier reputation unfairly attached to it, he can also be placed in this more appropriate context. After this period, with Chopin and Paganini dead, Liszt retired from the concert platform at a minor German court, Wagner effectively in exile until he obtained royal patronage in Bavaria, and Berlioz still struggling with the bourgeois liberalism which all but smothered radical artistic endeavour in Europe, Romanticism in music was surely past its prime—giving way, rather, to the period of musical romantics.

Romantic literature

In literature, Romanticism found recurrent themes in the evocation or criticism of the past, the cult of "sensibility" with its emphasis on women and children, the heroic isolation of the artist or narrator, and respect for a new, wilder, untrammeled and "pure" nature. Furthermore, several romantic authors, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, based their writings on the supernatural/occult and human psychology. Romanticism also helped in the emergence of new ideas and in the process led to the emergence of positive voices that were beneficial for the marginalized sections of the society.

The roots of romanticism in poetry go back to the time of Alexander Pope (1688–1744). Early pioneers include Joseph Warton (headmaster at Winchester College) and his brother Thomas Warton, professor of Poetry at Oxford University. Joseph maintained that invention and imagination were the chief qualities of a poet. The "poet's poet" Thomas Chatterton is generally considered to be the first Romantic poet in English. The Scottish poet James Macpherson influenced the early development of Romanticism with the international success of his Ossian cycle of poems published in 1762, inspiring both Goethe and the young Walter Scott.

An early German influence came from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose 1774 novel ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' had young men throughout Europe emulating its protagonist, a young artist with a very sensitive and passionate temperament. At that time Germany was a multitude of small separate states, and Goethe's works would have a seminal influence in developing a unifying sense of nationalism. Another philosophic influence came from the German idealism of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling, making Jena (where Fichte lived, as well as Schelling, Hegel, Schiller and the brothers Schlegel) a center for early German romanticism ("Jenaer Romantik"). Important writers were Ludwig Tieck, Novalis (''Heinrich von Ofterdingen'', 1799), Heinrich von Kleist and Friedrich Hölderlin. Heidelberg later became a center of German romanticism, where writers and poets such as Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim, and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff met regularly in literary circles.

Important motifs in German Romanticism are travelling, nature, and ancient myths. The later German Romanticism of, for example, E. T. A. Hoffmann's ''Der Sandmann'' (''The Sandman''), 1817, and Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff's ''Das Marmorbild'' (''The Marble Statue''), 1819, was darker in its motifs and has gothic elements.

Early Russian Romantism is associated with the writers Konstantin Batyushkov (''A Vision on the Shores of the Lethe'', 1809), Vasily Zhukovsky (''The Bard'', 1811; ''Svetlana'', 1813) and Nikolay Karamzin (''Poor Liza'', 1792; ''Julia'', 1796; ''Martha the Mayoress'', 1802; ''The Sensitive and the Cold'', 1803). However the principal exponent of Romanticism in Russia is Alexander Pushkin (''The Prisoner of the Caucasus'', 1820–1821; ''The Robber Brothers'', 1822; ''Ruslan and Ludmila'', 1820; ''Eugene Onegin'', 1825–1832). Pushkin's work influenced many writers in the 19th century and led to his eventual recognition as Russia's greatest poet. Other Russian poets include Mikhail Lermontov (''A Hero of Our Time'', 1839), Fyodor Tyutchev (''Silentium!'', 1830), Yevgeny Baratynsky's (''Eda'', 1826), Anton Delvig, and Wilhelm Küchelbecker. Influenced heavily by Lors Byron, Lermotov sought to explore the Romantic emphasis on metaphysical discontent with society and self, while Tyutchev's poems often described scenes of nature or passions of love. Tyutchev commonly operated with such categories as night and day, north and south, dream and reality, cosmos and chaos, and the still world of winter and spring teeming with life. Baratynsky's style was fairly classical in nature, dwelling on the models of the previous century.

In Spain, the Romantic movement developed a well-known literature with a huge variety of poets and playwrights. The most important Spanish poet during this movement was José de Espronceda. After him there were other poets like Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Mariano José de Larra and the dramatist José Zorrilla, author of ''Don Juan Tenorio''. Before them may be mentioned the pre-romantics José Cadalso and Manuel José Quintana.

Spanish Romanticism also influenced regional literatures. For example, in Catalonia and in Galicia there was a national boom of writers in the local languages, like the Catalan Jacint Verdaguer and the Galician Rosalía de Castro, the main figures of the national revivalist movements Renaixença and Rexurdimento, respectively.

Brazilian Romanticism is characterized and divided in three different periods. The first one is basically focused in the creation of a sense of national identity, using the ideal of the heroic Indian. Some examples include José de Alencar, who wrote "Iracema" and "O Guarani", and Gonçalves Dias, renowned by the poem "Canção do Exílio" (Song of the Exile). The second period is marked by a profound influence of European themes and traditions, involving the melancholy, sadness and despair related to unobtainable love. Goethe and Lord Byron are commonly quoted in these works. The third cycle is marked by social poetry, especially the abolitionist movement; the greatest writer of this period is Castro Alves.

Romanticism in British literature developed in a different form slightly later, mostly associated with the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose co-authored book ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798) sought to reject Augustan poetry in favour of more direct speech derived from folk traditions. Both poets were also involved in utopian social thought in the wake of the French Revolution. The poet and painter William Blake is the most extreme example of the Romantic sensibility in Britain, epitomised by his claim “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's.” Blake's artistic work is also strongly influenced by Medieval illuminated books. The painters J. M. W. Turner and John Constable are also generally associated with Romanticism. Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Keats and John Clare constitute another phase of Romanticism in Britain.

In predominantly Roman Catholic countries Romanticism was less pronounced than in Germany and Britain, and tended to develop later, after the rise of Napoleon. François-René de Chateaubriand is often called the "Father of French Romanticism". In France, the movement is associated with the 19th century, particularly in the paintings of Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, the plays, poems and novels of Victor Hugo (such as ''Les Misérables'' and ''Ninety-Three'')(also, Victor Hugo, in the preface to "Cromwell" states that " there are no rules, or models" in Romanticism) , and the novels of Alexandre Dumas and Stendhal.

Modern Portuguese poetry definitely develops its outstanding character from the work of its Romantic epitome, Almeida Garrett, a very prolific writer who helped shape the genre with the masterpiece Folhas Caídas (1853). This late arrival of a truly personal Romantic style would linger on to the beginning of the 20th century, notably through the works of poets such as Cesário Verde and António Nobre, segueing seamlessly to Modernism. However, an early Portuguese expression of Romanticism is found already in the genius of Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, especially in his sonnets dated at the end of the 18th century.

In the United States, romantic Gothic literature made an early appearance with Washington Irving's ''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'' (1820) and ''Rip Van Winkle'' (1819), followed from 1823 onwards by the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' of James Fenimore Cooper, with their emphasis on heroic simplicity and their fervent landscape descriptions of an already-exotic mythicized frontier peopled by "noble savages", similar to the philosophical theory of Rousseau, exemplified by Uncas, from ''The Last of the Mohicans''. There are picturesque "local color" elements in Washington Irving's essays and especially his travel books. Edgar Allan Poe's tales of the macabre and his balladic poetry were more influential in France than at home, but the romantic American novel developed fully in Nathaniel Hawthorne's atmosphere and melodrama. Later Transcendentalist writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson still show elements of its influence and imagination, as does the romantic realism of Walt Whitman. The poetry of Emily Dickinson—nearly unread in her own time—and Herman Melville's novel ''Moby-Dick'' can be taken as epitomes of American Romantic literature. By the 1880s, however, psychological and social realism was competing with romanticism in the novel.

Influence of European Romanticism on American writers

The European Romantic movement reached America in the early 19th century. American Romanticism was just as multifaceted and individualistic as it was in Europe. Like the Europeans, the American Romantics demonstrated a high level of moral enthusiasm, commitment to individualism and the unfolding of the self, an emphasis on intuitive perception, and the assumption that the natural world was inherently good, while human society was filled with corruption.

Romanticism became popular in American politics, philosophy and art. The movement appealed to the revolutionary spirit of America as well as to those longing to break free of the strict religious traditions of early settlement. The Romantics rejected rationalism and religious intellect. It appealed to those in opposition of Calvinism, which includes the belief that the destiny of each individual is predestined. The Romantic movement gave rise to New England Transcendentalism which portrayed a less restrictive relationship between God and Universe. The new religion presented the individual with a more personal relationship with God. Transcendentalism and Romanticism appealed to Americans in a similar fashion, for both privileged feeling over reason, individual freedom of expression over the restraints of tradition and custom. It often involved a rapturous response to nature. It encouraged the rejection of harsh, rigid Calvinism, and promised a new blossoming of American culture.

American Romanticism embraced the individual and rebelled against the confinement of neoclassicism and religious tradition. The Romantic movement in America created a new literary genre that continues to influence American writers. Novels, short stories, and poems replaced the sermons and manifestos of yore. Romantic literature was personal, intense, and portrayed more emotion than ever seen in neoclassical literature. America's preoccupation with freedom became a great source of motivation for Romantic writers as many were delighted in free expression and emotion without so much fear of ridicule and controversy. They also put more effort into the psychological development of their characters, and the main characters typically displayed extremes of sensitivity and excitement.

Influence of war on Romantic writings

The Romantic Era is a time in history that was surrounded by war: The Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and the American Revolution (1775–1783)—which directly preceded the French Revolution (1789–1799)—are all examples.

These wars, along with the political and social turmoil that went along with them, served as the background for Romanticism. The strong feelings that wartime produces served as a catalyst for an outpouring of art and literature, the likes of which had never been seen before. The writing was so different in fact, that it sparked its own new "era": The Romantic Era

The works of the Romantic Era are a vast and unique collection of literary works. However, they can all be said to have at least these characteristics: A love of nature, a sense of nationalism, and a sense of exoticism/the supernatural. These simple characteristics can be linked back to the fact that these works were being written in time of political turmoil. For example, the nationalism that is seen in Romantic works may be attributed to the fact that the authors of the time were proud of their country, had pride in their people, and their “cause”. It was the writers’ own way of contributing to the fight.

Also, the works of the Romantic Era were vastly different from the works that came before them, in that they spoke to the “common” people. Romantics strived towards literature and arts that were for everyone—not just wealthy aristocracy. Much of the writing pre-dating the romantic era was written for, and in the style of, only the wealthy upper classes. Romantics had a hand in changing this around—and it may have been because they were trying to connect with the commoners. In a time of war and political uneasiness, the writers were reaching out to their equals for a connection, not to those above them, the ones fueling the wars.

During the Romantic period there was a rise in female authors as well. This can be attributed to the fact that this period was submerged in wartime. The women were at home, without a way to express their feelings, fight for the cause, or even connect to those around them. The writings of female Romantic writers, such as Mary Favret, are infused with feeling, and sometime even reference the war itself, i.e. Favret's ''War in the Air''.

Romantic visual arts

In European painting, led by a new generation of the French school, the Romantic sensibility contrasted with the neoclassicism being taught in the academies. In a revived clash between color and design, the expressiveness and mood of color, as in works of J.M.W. Turner, Francisco Goya, Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, emphasized in the new prominence of the brushstroke and impasto the artist's free handling of paint, which tended to be repressed in neoclassicism under a self-effacing finish.

As in England with J.M.W. Turner and Samuel Palmer, Russia with Orest Kiprensky, Ivan Aivazovsky and Vasily Tropinin, Germany with Caspar David Friedrich, Norway with J.C. Dahl and Hans Gude, Spain with Francisco Goya, and France with Théodore Géricault, Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Chassériau, and others; literary Romanticism had its counterpart in the American visual arts, most especially in the exaltation of an untamed American landscape found in the paintings of the Hudson River School. Painters like Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church and others often expressed Romantic themes in their paintings. They sometimes depicted ancient ruins of the old world, such as in Fredric Edwin Church’s piece ''Sunrise in Syria''. These works reflected the Gothic feelings of death and decay. They also show the Romantic ideal that Nature is powerful and will eventually overcome the transient creations of men. More often, they worked to distinguish themselves from their European counterparts by depicting uniquely American scenes and landscapes. This idea of an American identity in the art world is reflected in W. C. Bryant’s poem, ''To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe'', where Bryant encourages Cole to remember the powerful scenes that can only be found in America. This poem also shows the tight connection that existed between the literary and visual artists of the Romantic Era.

Some American paintings promote the literary idea of the “noble savage” (Such as Albert Bierstadt’s The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak) by portraying idealized Native Americans living in harmony with the natural world.

Thomas Cole's paintings feature strong narratives as in ''The Voyage of Life'' series painted in the early 1840s that depict man trying to survive amidst an awesome and immense nature, from the cradle to the grave (see below).

Voyage of Life

Theology

To insulate theology from reductionism in science, 19th century post-Enlightenment German theologians moved in a new direction, led by Friedrich Schleiermacher and Albrecht Ritschl. They took the Romantic approach of rooting religion in the inner world of the human spirit, so that it is a person's feeling or sensibility about spiritual matters that comprises religion.

Romantic nationalism

One of Romanticism's key ideas and most enduring legacies is the assertion of nationalism, which became a central theme of Romantic art and political philosophy. From the earliest parts of the movement, with their focus on development of national languages and folklore, and the importance of local customs and traditions, to the movements which would redraw the map of Europe and lead to calls for self-determination of nationalities, nationalism was one of the key vehicles of Romanticism, its role, expression and meaning.

Early Romantic nationalism was strongly inspired by Rousseau, and by the ideas of Johann Gottfried von Herder, who in 1784 argued that the geography formed the natural economy of a people, and shaped their customs and society.

The nature of nationalism changed dramatically, however, after the French Revolution with the rise of Napoleon, and the reactions in other nations. Napoleonic nationalism and republicanism were, at first, inspirational to movements in other nations: self-determination and a consciousness of national unity were held to be two of the reasons why France was able to defeat other countries in battle. But as the French Republic became Napoleon's Empire, Napoleon became not the inspiration for nationalism, but the object of its struggle. In Prussia, the development of spiritual renewal as a means to engage in the struggle against Napoleon was argued by, among others, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a disciple of Kant. The word ''Volkstum'', or nationality, was coined in German as part of this resistance to the now conquering emperor. Fichte expressed the unity of language and nation in his address "To the German Nation" in 1806:

''Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole. ...Only when each people, left to itself, develops and forms itself in accordance with its own peculiar quality, and only when in every people each individual develops himself in accordance with that common quality, as well as in accordance with his own peculiar quality—then, and then only, does the manifestation of divinity appear in its true mirror as it ought to be.''

This view of nationalism inspired the collection of folklore by such people as the Brothers Grimm, the revival of old epics as national, and the construction of new epics as if they were old, as in the ''Kalevala'', compiled from Finnish tales and folklore, or ''Ossian'', where the claimed ancient roots were invented. The view that fairy tales, unless contaminated from outside literary sources, were preserved in the same form over thousands of years, was not exclusive to Romantic Nationalists, but fit in well with their views that such tales expressed the primordial nature of a people. For instance, the Brothers Grimm rejected many tales they collected because of their similarity to tales by Charles Perrault, which they thought proved they were not truly German tales; ''Sleeping Beauty'' survived in their collection because the tale of Brynhildr convinced them that the figure of the sleeping princess was authentically German.

Romanticism played an essential role in the national awakening of many Central European peoples lacking their own national states, not least in Poland, which had recently lost its independence when Russia's army crushed the Polish Uprising under Nicholas I. Revival and reinterpretation of ancient myths, customs and traditions by Romantic poets and painters helped to distinguish their indigenous cultures from those of the dominant nations and crystallise the mythography of Romantic nationalism. Patriotism, nationalism, revolution and armed struggle for independence also became popular themes in the arts of this period. Arguably, the most distinguished Romantic poet of this part of Europe was Adam Mickiewicz, who developed an idea that Poland was the Messiah of Nations, predestined to suffer just as Jesus had suffered to save all the people.

Gallery

Romantic authors

Jane Austen

Joanna Baillie

Anna Barbauld

William Blake

Robert Burns

Brontë family

Lord Byron

Thomas Carlyle

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Hannah Cowley

Maria Edgeworth

Ralph Waldo Emerson

José de Espronceda

William Godwin

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

William Hazlitt

Leigh Hunt

Elizabeth Inchbald

Washington Irving

John Keats

James Kenney

Charles Lamb

Adam Mickiewicz

Hannah More

Mary Robinson (poet)

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Mary Shelley

Percy Shelley

Henry David Thoreau

Mary Wollstonecraft

William Wordsworth

Ann Yearsley

Romantic scholars

M. H. Abrams

Donald Ault

Harold Bloom

James Chandler

Jeffrey N. Cox

Northrop Frye

Peter Kitson

Jerome McGann

Anne K. Mellor

René Wellek

Susan J. Wolfson

Romantic societies

British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS)

International Conference on Romanticism (ICR)

NASSR

See also

Related terms

Bohemianism

Expressionism

Humboldtian

Nationalism

Sentimentalism

Surrealism

Symbolism

Transcendentalism

Opposing terms

Classicism

Positivism

Rationalism

Realism

The Academy

The Enlightenment

Utilitarianism

Related subjects

Dark Romanticism

Folklore

Gothic fiction

List of romantics

''Mal du siècle''

Middle Ages in history

Neo-romanticism

Post-romanticism

Romantic hero

Romantic realism

Romanticism in science

Ultra-Romanticism

Related movements

Düsseldorf School

German Romanticism

Hellenism (neoclassicism)

Hudson River School

List of Hudson River School artists

Nazarene movement

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Sturm und Drang

Norwegian romantic nationalism

Vegetarianism and Romanticism

Notes

References

Eco, Umberto (1990) ''Interpreting Serials'' in ''The limits of interpretation'', pp.83-100, excerpt

Friedlaender, Walter, ''David to Delacroix'', (Originally published in German; reprinted 1980) 1952.

Gregory, Elizabeth (1997) ''Quotation and Modern American Poetry: Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads''

Joachimides, Christos M. and Rosenthal, Norman and Anfam, David and Adams, Brooks (1993) ''American art in the 20th century: painting and sculpture 1913-1993''

Macfarlane, Robert (2007) ''`Romantic' Originality'', in ''Original copy: plagiarism and originality in nineteenth-century literature'', March 2007 , pp. 18-50(33)

Reidhead et. al., ''Norton Anthology of English Literature,'' ''The Romantic Period – Volume D'' (W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.) 2006

Ruthven, K. K. (2001) ''Faking Literature''

Smith, Logan Pearsall (1924) ''Four words: romantic, originality, creative, genius'', Oxford, Clarendon Press

Spearing, A. C. (1987) ''Introduction'' section to Chaucer's ''The Franklin's Prologue and Tale''

Spearing, A. C. (1989) ''Readings in medieval poetry''

Steiner, George (1998) ''After Babel'', ch.6 ''Topologies of culture'', 3rd revised edition

Waterhouse, Francis A. (1926) ''Romantic 'Originality''' in ''The Sewanee Review'', Vol. 34, No. 1 (Jan., 1926), pp.40-49

Further reading

Abrams, M.H., ''Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 1973).

Blanning, Tim. ''The Romantic Revolution: A History'' (2011) 272pp

Breckman, Warren, ''European Romanticism: A Brief History with Documents''. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.

Ciofalo, John J. "The Ascent of Genius in the Court and Academy." ''The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya.'' Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Fay,Elizabeth, ''Romantic Medievalism. History and the Romantic Literary Ideal.'' Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002.

Gillespie, Gerald / Manfred Engel / Bernard Dieterle (eds.), ''Romantic Prose Fiction'' (= A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages, Bd. XXIII; ed. by the International Comparative Literature Association). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins 2008, pp. 263–295. ISBN 978-9027234568.

Gossman, Lionel. “Making of a Romantic Icon: The Religious Context of Friedrich Overbeck’s ‘Italia und Germania.’” American Philosophical Society, 2007. ISBN 0871699753. Grewe, Cordula, ''Painting the Sacred in the Age of German Romanticism''. Burlington: Ashgate, 2009.

Holmes, Richard. ''The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science'' (2009) ISBN 978-1-4000-3187-0

Honour, Hugh, ''Romanticism'', (Westview Press) 1979.

Lim, Cwisfa, ''Romanticism – The dawn of a new era'', 2002. (reprinted 2006)

Masson, Scott, 'Romanticism', Ch.7 in ''The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology'', (Oxford University Press) 2007.

Murray, Christopher, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the romantic era, 1760–1850'' (2 vol 2004); 850 articles by experts; 1600pp

Novotny, Fritz, ''Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1780–1880'', 1971. (2nd edition 1980)

McCalman, Iain, ed. '' An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age'' (2009) online at Oxford Reference Online

Rosenblum, Robert, ''Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition: Friedrich to Rothko'', (Harper & Row) 1975.

Schenk, H.G., ''The Mind of the European Romantics: An Essay in Cultural History'', (Constable) 1966.

Tekiner, Deniz, ''Modern Art and the Romantic Vision'', (University Press of America) 2000.

Workman, Leslie J., "Medievalism and Romanticism," ''Poetica'' 39–40 (1994): 1–34.

External links

The Romantic Poets

''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'', Romanticism

''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'', Romanticism in Political Thought

''Romantic Circles'' Electronic editions, histories, and scholarly articles related to the Romantic era

* Romantic art Category:Romantic paintings Category:History of Europe Category:History of ideas Category:Literary genres Romanticism Category:Theories of aesthetics

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571-1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542-1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440-1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736-1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310-1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Empress of Russian

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853-1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman Emperor

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553-1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007-1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057-1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440-1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358-1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398-1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010-1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326-1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238-1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633-1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555-1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239-1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014-1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082-1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397-1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433-1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734-1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336-1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020-1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Ralph Vaughan Williams OM (; 12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song which influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, containing many folk song arrangements set as hymn tunes, in addition to several original compositions.

Life

Early years

Ralph Vaughan Williams was born on 12 October 1872 in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, where his father, the Reverend Arthur Vaughan Williams (the surname Vaughan Williams is an unhyphenated double-barrelled name of Welsh origin), was vicar. Following his father's death in 1875 he was taken by his mother, Margaret Susan née Wedgwood (1843–1937), the great-granddaughter of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, to live with her family at Leith Hill Place, a Wedgwood family home in the Surrey Hills. He was also related to the Darwins, Charles Darwin being a great-uncle. Though born into the privileged intellectual upper middle class, Vaughan Williams never took it for granted and worked all his life for the democratic and egalitarian ideals in which he believed.

As a student he had studied piano, "which I never could play, and the violin, which was my musical salvation." After Charterhouse School he attended the Royal College of Music (RCM) under Charles Villiers Stanford. He read history and music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his friends and contemporaries included the philosophers G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell. He then returned to the RCM and studied composition with Hubert Parry, who became a friend. One of his fellow pupils at the RCM was Leopold Stokowski and during 1896 they both studied organ under Sir Walter Parratt. Stokowski later went on to perform six of Vaughan Williams's symphonies for American audiences, making the first recording of the Sixth Symphony in 1949 with the New York Philharmonic, and giving the U.S. premiere of the Ninth Symphony in Carnegie Hall in 1958.

Another friendship made at the RCM, crucial to Vaughan Williams's development as a composer, was with fellow-student Gustav Holst whom he first met in 1895. From that time onwards they spent several 'field days' reading through and offering constructive criticism on each other's works in progress.

Vaughan Williams's composition developed slowly and it was not until he was 30 that the song "Linden Lea" became his first publication. He mixed composition with conducting, lecturing and editing other music, notably that of Henry Purcell and the English Hymnal. He had already taken lessons with Max Bruch in Berlin in 1897 and in 1907–1908 took a big step forward in his orchestral style when he studied for three months in Paris with Maurice Ravel.

In 1904, Vaughan Williams discovered English folk songs and carols, which were fast becoming extinct owing to the oral tradition through which they existed being undermined by the increase of literacy and printed music in rural areas. He travelled the countryside, transcribing and preserving many himself. Later he incorporated some songs and melodies into his own music, being fascinated by the beauty of the music and its anonymous history in the working lives of ordinary people. His efforts did much to raise appreciation of traditional English folk song and melody. Later in his life he served as president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), which, in recognition of his early and important work in this field, named its Vaughan Williams Memorial Library after him. During this time he strengthened his links to prominent writers on folk music, including the Reverend George B. Chambers.

In 1905, Vaughan Williams conducted the first concert of the newly founded Leith Hill Music Festival at Dorking which he was to conduct until 1953, when he passed the baton to his successor, William Cole. In 1909, he composed incidental music for the Cambridge Greek Play, a stage production at Cambridge University of Aristophanes' ''The Wasps''. The next year, he had his first big public successes conducting the premieres of the ''Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'' (at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral) and his choral symphony ''A Sea Symphony'' (Symphony No. 1). He enjoyed a still greater success with ''A London Symphony'' (Symphony No. 2) in 1914, conducted by Geoffrey Toye.

Two World Wars

Vaughan Williams was 41 when World War I began. Though he could have avoided war service entirely, or tried for a commission, he chose to enlist as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After a gruelling time as a stretcher bearer in France and Salonika, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 24 December 1917. On one occasion, though too ill to stand, he continued to direct his battery while lying on the ground. Prolonged exposure to gunfire began a process of hearing loss which eventually caused severe deafness in old age. In 1918, he was appointed Director of Music, First Army, and this helped him adjust back into musical life.

After the war, he adopted for a while a somewhat mystical style in ''A Pastoral Symphony'' (Symphony No. 3), which draws on his experiences as an ambulance volunteer in that war; and ''Flos Campi'', a work for solo viola, small orchestra, and wordless chorus. From 1924 a new phase in his music began, characterised by lively cross-rhythms and clashing harmonies. Key works from this period are ''Toccata marziale'', the ballet ''Old King Cole'', the Piano Concerto, the oratorio ''Sancta Civitas'' (his favourite of his choral works) and the ballet ''Job: A Masque for Dancing'', which is drawn not from the Bible but from William Blake's ''Illustrations of the Book of Job''. He also composed a ''Te Deum'' in G for the enthronement of Cosmo Gordon Lang as Archbishop of Canterbury. This period in his music culminated in the Symphony No. 4 in F minor, first played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1935. This symphony contrasts dramatically with the "pastoral" orchestral works with which he is associated; indeed, its almost unrelieved tension, drama, and dissonance have startled listeners since it was premiered. Acknowledging that the Fourth Symphony was different, the composer said, "I don't know if I like it, but it's what I meant." Two years later, Vaughan Williams made a historic recording of the work with the same orchestra for HMV (His Master's Voice), his only commercial recording. During this period, he lectured in America and England, and conducted The Bach Choir. He was President of the City of Bath Bach Choir between 1946 and 1959. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in the King's Birthday Honours of 1935, having previously declined a knighthood. He also gave private lessons in London to students including Irish composer Ina Boyle.

Vaughan Williams was an intimate life long friend of the famous British pianist Harriet Cohen. His letters to her reveal a flirtatious relationship, regularly reminding her of the thousands of kisses that she owed him. Before Cohen's first American tour in 1931 he wrote "I fear the Americans will love you so much that they won't let you come back." He was a regular visitor to her home and often attended parties there. Cohen premiered Vaughan Williams's "Hymn Tune Prelude" in 1930, which he dedicated to her. She later introduced the piece throughout Europe during her concert tours. In 1933 she premiered his Piano Concerto in C major, a work which was once again dedicated to her. Cohen was given the exclusive right to play the piece for a period of time. Cohen played and promoted Vaughan Williams's work throughout Europe, the USSR, and the United States.

His music now entered a mature lyrical phase, as in the ''Five Tudor Portraits''; the ''Serenade to Music'' (a setting of a scene from act five of ''The Merchant of Venice'', for orchestra and sixteen vocal soloists and composed as a tribute to the conductor Sir Henry Wood); and the Symphony No. 5 in D, which he conducted at the Proms in 1943. As he was now 70, many people considered it a swan song, but he renewed himself again and entered yet another period of exploratory harmony and instrumentation. His very successful Symphony No. 6 of 1946 received a hundred performances in the first year. It surprised both admirers and critics, many of whom suggested that this symphony (especially its last movement) was a grim vision of the aftermath of an atomic war: typically, Vaughan Williams himself refused to recognise any programme behind this work.

Later work

Before his death in 1958, he completed three more symphonies. His Seventh, ''Sinfonia Antartica'', which was based on his 1948 film score for ''Scott of the Antarctic'', exhibits his renewed interest in instrumentation and sonority. The Eighth Symphony, first performed in 1956, was followed by the much weightier Symphony No. 9 in E minor of 1956–57. This last symphony was initially given a lukewarm reception after its first performance in May 1958, just three months before his death. But this dark and enigmatic work is now considered by many to be a fitting conclusion to his sequence of symphonic works.

He also completed a range of instrumental and choral works, including a Tuba Concerto, ''An Oxford Elegy'' on texts of Matthew Arnold, and the Christmas cantata ''Hodie''. He also wrote an arrangement of The Old One Hundredth Psalm Tune for the Coronation Service of Queen Elizabeth II. At his death he left an unfinished Cello Concerto, an opera ''Thomas the Rhymer'' and music for a Christmas play, ''The First Nowell'', which was completed by his amanuensis Roy Douglas (b. 1907).

Despite his substantial involvement in church music, and the religious subject-matter of many of his works, he was described by his second wife as "an atheist ... [who] later drifted into a cheerful agnosticism." It is noteworthy that in his opera ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' he changed the name of the hero from John Bunyan's ''Christian'' to ''Pilgrim''. He also set Bunyan's hymn ''Who would true valour see'' to music using the traditional Sussex melody "Monk's Gate". For many church-goers, his most familiar composition may be the hymn tune ''Sine nomine'' written for the hymn "For All the Saints" by William Walsham How. The tune he composed for the mediaeval hymn "Come Down, O Love Divine" (''Discendi, Amor santo'' by Bianco of Siena, ca.1434) is entitled "Down Ampney" in honour of his birthplace.

He also worked as a tutor for Birkbeck College.

In the 1950s, the composer supervised recordings of all but his Ninth Symphony by Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Decca. At the end of the sessions for the mysterious Sixth Symphony, Vaughan Williams gave a short speech, thanking Boult and the orchestra for their performance, "most heartily," and Decca later included this on the LP. He was to supervise the first recording of the Ninth Symphony (for Everest Records) with Boult; his death on 26 August 1958 the night before the recording sessions were to begin provoked Boult to announce to the musicians that their performance would be a memorial to the composer. These recordings, including the speeches by the composer and Boult, have all been reissued by Decca on CD.

Vaughan Williams is a central figure in British music because of his long career as teacher, lecturer and friend to so many younger composers and conductors. His writings on music remain thought-provoking, particularly his oft-repeated call for all persons to make their own music, however simple, as long as it is truly their own. Vaughan Williams was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey.

Marriages

He was married twice. His first marriage was to Adeline Fisher (daughter of the historian Herbert William Fisher) in 1896. Adeline was related to Ruth Fisher de Ropp, who was the mother of Robert S de Ropp. Robert's father, a semi-destitute European nobleman, was unable to pay for his son's post-secondary education. Consequently, Ralph and Adeline Vaughan Williams paid for Robert’s education at the Royal College of Science, in South Kensington, where he eventually specialised in biology and earned a PhD. De Ropp went on to be a successful research scientist and well-known author of books on human potentials. Adeline Fisher Vaughan Williams died in 1951 after many years of suffering from crippling arthritis.

Vaughan Williams had an affair with the married poet Ursula Wood beginning in 1938. After Wood's husband died in 1942, Wood became Ralph's literary advisor and personal assistant and moved into his Surrey home, apparently with the tacit approval of Adeline, for whom Wood served as a caretaker until Adeline's death in 1951. Wood wrote the libretto to his choral work ''The Sons of Light'', and contributing to that of ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' and ''Hodie''. Wood and Vaughan Williams married in 1953 and moved to London and occupied a house at 10 Hanover Terrace, Regents Park until the composer's death five years later. In 1964 Wood published RVW: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. She served as honorary president of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society until her death in 2007.

Style

Vaughan Williams's music has often been said to be characteristically English, in the same way as that of Gustav Holst, Frederick Delius, George Butterworth and William Walton. In ''Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination'', Peter Ackroyd writes, "If that Englishness in music can be encapsulated in words at all, those words would probably be: ostensibly familiar and commonplace, yet deep and mystical as well as lyrical, melodic, melancholic, and nostalgic yet timeless." Ackroyd quotes music critic John Alexander Fuller Maitland, whose distinctions included editing the second edition of the ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' in the years just before 1911, as having observed that in Vaughan Williams's style "one is never quite sure whether one is listening to something very old or very new."

His style expresses a deep regard for and fascination with folk tunes, the variations upon which can convey the listener from the down-to-earth (which he always tried to remain in his daily life) to the ethereal. Simultaneously the music shows patriotism toward England in the subtlest form, engendered by a feeling for ancient landscapes and a person's small yet not entirely insignificant place within them. His earlier works sometimes show the influence of Maurice Ravel, his teacher for three months in Paris in 1908. Ravel described Vaughan Williams as the only one of his pupils who did not write music like Ravel.

Works

Operas

''Hugh the Drover or Love in the Stocks'' (1910–20). Romantic ballad opera. Libretto: Harold Child

''Sir John in Love'' (1924–28), from which comes an arrangement by Ralph Greaves of ''Fantasia on "Greensleeves"''

''The Poisoned Kiss'' (1927–29; revisions 1936–37 and 1956–57). Libretto: Evelyn Sharp (later amended by Ralph and Ursula Vaughan Williams)

''Riders to the Sea'' (1925–32), from the play by John Millington Synge

''The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1909–51), based on John Bunyan's allegory

:*''The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains'' (1921). Libretto: Ralph Vaughan Williams (from John Bunyan) (Later incorporated, save for the final section, into ''The Pilgrim's Progress'')

Incidental music

''The Wasps'' (1909; to Aristophanes's play ''The Wasps''; best known as an orchestral suite)

''The Bacchae'' (1911; to Euripides's tragedy)

''The Death of Tintagiles'' (1913; to Maurice Maeterlinck's 1894 play)

Ballets

''Old King Cole'' (1923)

''On Christmas Night'' (1926)

''Job: A Masque for Dancing'' (1930)

''The Running Set'' (1933)

''The Bridal Day'' (1938–39)

Orchestral

Symphonies

*''A Sea Symphony'' (Symphony No. 1), a choral symphony on texts by Whitman (1903–1909)

*''A London Symphony'' (Symphony No. 2) (1913)

*''A Pastoral Symphony'' (Symphony No. 3) (1921)

*Symphony No. 4 in F minor (1931–34)

*Symphony No. 5 in D major (1938–43)

*Symphony No. 6 in E minor (1944–47, rev. 1950)

*''Sinfonia antartica'' (Symphony No. 7) (1949–52) (partly based on his music for the film ''Scott of the Antarctic'')

*Symphony No. 8 in D minor (1953–55)

*Symphony No. 9 in E minor (1956–57)

Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue (1900)

''In the Fen Country'', for orchestra (1904)

Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 (1906, rev. 1914))

''The Wasps'', an Aristophanic suite (1909; see Incidental music above)

''Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'' (1910, rev. 1913 and 1919)

March: Sea Songs (1923)

Prelude and Fugue in C minor (1930)

The Running Set (1933)

''Fantasia on "Greensleeves"'' (1934)

Two Hymn Tune Preludes (1936)

Partita for Strings (1938)

''Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus'' (1939)

Household Music (1940)

Concerto Grosso, for three parts of strings requiring different levels of technical skill (1950)

Prelude on an Old Carol Tune (1952)

''Flourish for Glorious John'' (1957)

Concerti

Violin

*''The Lark Ascending'' for violin and orchestra (1914)

*''Concerto Accademico'' for violin and orchestra (1924–25)

Viola

*''Flos Campi'' for viola, wordless chorus and small orchestra (1925)

*Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra (1934)

*Romance for viola and piano (1925–1934 circa)

Piano

* Piano Concerto in C major (1926–31)

*Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (c. 1946; a reworking of Piano Concerto in C)

Oboe Concerto in A minor, for oboe and strings (1944)

''Fantasia (quasi variazione) on the Old 104th Psalm Tune'' for piano, chorus, and orchestra (1949)

Romance in D-flat major for harmonica and orchestra (1951) (written for Larry Adler)

Tuba Concerto in F minor (1954)

Choral

''A Cambridge Mass'', mass for SATB, double chorus & orchestra (1899); Doctoral exercise, first performed 3 March 2011.,,,

''Toward the Unknown Region'', song for chorus and orchestra, setting of Walt Whitman (1906)

''Five Mystical Songs'' for baritone, chorus and orchestra, settings of George Herbert (1911)

''Fantasia on Christmas Carols'' for baritone, chorus, and orchestra (1912); arranged also for reduced orchestra of organ, strings, percussion)

Mass in G minor for unaccompanied choir (1922)

''Sancta Civitas'' (The Holy City) oratorio, text mainly from the Book of Revelation (1923–25)

Te Deum in G major (1928)

''Benedicite'' for soprano, chorus, and orchestra (1929)

''In Windsor Forest'', adapted from the opera ''Sir John in Love'' (1929)

''Three Choral Hymns'' (1929)

''Magnificat'' for contralto, women's chorus, and orchestra (1932)

''Five Tudor Portraits'' for contralto, baritone, chorus, and orchestra (1935)

''Dona nobis pacem'', text by Walt Whitman and other sources (1936)

''Festival Te Deum'' for chorus and orchestra or organ (1937)

''Serenade to Music'' for sixteen solo voices and orchestra, a setting of Shakespeare, dedicated to Sir Henry Joseph Wood on the occasion of his Jubilee (1938)

"Six Choral Songs To Be Sung In Time Of War" (1940)

''A Song of Thanksgiving'' (originally ''Thanksgiving for Victory'') for narrator, soprano solo, children's chorus, mixed chorus, and orchestra (1944)

''An Oxford Elegy'' for narrator, mixed chorus and small orchestra (1949)

''Three Shakespeare Songs'' for SATB unaccompanied, composed for The British Federation of Music Festivals National Competitive Festival (1951)

''O Taste and See'', a motet setting of Psalm 34:8. The original SATB version was composed for the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in June 1953. (1953)

''Hodie'', a Christmas oratorio (1954)

''Folk songs of the Four Seasons'' A Cantata for Women's Voices with Orchestra or pianoforte accompaniment (1950).

''Epithalamion'' for baritone solo, chorus, flute, piano, and strings (1957)

''A Choral Flourish'' for unaccompanied SATB chorus, composed for a large choral event in the Royal Albert Hall at the invitation of (and dedicated to) Alan Kirby (c. 1952)

''O How Amiable (1934)'' An arrangement of a hymn for chorus and organ, originally written for the Abinger Pageant

Arrangements of Christian hymns

Vaughan Williams was the musical editor of the English Hymnal of 1906, and the co-editor with Martin Shaw of Songs of Praise of 1925 and the Oxford Book of Carols of 1928, all in collaboration with Percy Dearmer. ''A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing'' ''All Creatures of Our God and King'' ''Alleluia, Sing to Jesus'' ''Amid the Thronging Worshippers'' ''At the Name of Jesus'' ''"Come Down, O Love Divine"'' original hymnody by Bianco of Siena (1434)''"Discendi, Amor santo"''and entitled "Down Ampney" in honour of Vaughan Williams's birthplace ''Come, Let Us with Our Lord Arise'' an Easter anthem ''Come Thou Long Expected Jesus'' a carol for the season of Advent

''For All the Saints'' harmonised from ''"Sine Nomine"''

''God Be With You Till We Meet Again'' ''I Love You Lord, My Strength, My Rock'' ''I Sing the Mighty Power of God'' ''Jesus, Lord, Redeemer''

''"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence",'' text of the Cherubic hymn of Liturgy of St James, harmonised to the French folk tune Picardy (1906)

''Make Room Within My Heart, O God''

''My God, My God, O Why Have You Forsaken Me?'' a lament for Good Friday services during Passiontide

''O Come to Me, the Master Said''

''"O Little Town of Bethlehem"'' a popular Christmas Carol penned by the American Phillips Brooks adapted to the English tune ''"Forest Green"''

''O Sing a Song of Bethlehem'' ''On Christmas Night All Christians Sing'' ''When the Church of Jesus''

Vocal

"Linden Lea", song (1901)

''The House of Life'', six sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, set to music (1904)

''Songs of Travel'' (1904)

"The Sky Above The Roof" (1908)

''On Wenlock Edge'', song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet (1909)

''Along the Field'', for tenor and violin

''Three Poems by Walt Whitman'' for baritone and piano (1920)

''Four Poems by Fredegond Shove:'' for baritone and piano (1922)

''Four Hymns:'' for tenor, viola obbligato and piano (1914)

''Merciless Beauty'' for tenor, two violins, and cello

''Four Last Songs'' to poems of Ursula Vaughan Williams

''Ten Blake songs'', song cycle for high voice and oboe (1957)

Chamber and Instrumental

String Quartet in C minor (1897) (early composition)

String Quartet No. 1 in G minor (1908)

String Quartet No. 2 in A minor ("For Jean, on her birthday," 1942–44)

''Phantasy Quintet'' for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello (1912)

Piano Quintet in C minor for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano (1903)

Sonata in A minor for violin and piano (1952)

Romance for viola and piano (undated)

Six Studies in English Folk Song, for violoncello and piano (1926)

Organ

''Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes'' (Bryn Calfaria, Rhosymedre, Hyfrydol) (1920)

''Prelude and Fugue in C minor'' (1921)

''A Wedding Tune for Ann'' (1943)

''The Old One Hundredth Psalm Tune'', harmonisation and arrangement (1953)

''Two Organ Preludes'' (The White Rock, St. David's Day) (1956)

Film, radio, and TV scores

''49th Parallel'', 1940, his first, talked into it by Muir Mathieson to assuage his guilt at being able to do nothing for the war effort

''Coastal Command'', 1942

BBC adaptation of ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', 1942

''The People's Land'', 1943

''The Story of a Flemish Farm'', 1943

''Stricken Peninsula'', 1945

''The Loves of Joanna Godden'', 1946

''Scott of the Antarctic'', 1948, partially reused for his ''Sinfonia antartica'' (Symphony No. 7)

''The England of Elizabeth''

''Bitter Springs'', 1950

Band

''Rhosymedre''(based on a Welsh hymn tune for organ) for concert band (1920)

''English Folk Song Suite'' for military band (1923)

''Sea Songs'' (1923)

''Toccata Marziale'' for military band (1924)

''Overture: Henry V'' for brass band (1933/34)

''Flourish for Wind Band'' (1939)

''Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes'' arranged from the organ piece for brass band (1955) and published by Salvationist Publishing and Supplies

''Variations'' for brass band (1957)

Recordings

Vaughan Williams enjoys an extensive recorded legacy. Early recordings of individual symphonies made by Henry Wood (London), John Barbirolli (Fifth), Adrian Boult and Leopold Stokowski (both in the Sixth), and the composer's own recording of the Fourth, preceded several complete cycles. Stokowski's 1943 NBC Symphony broadcast of the Fourth Symphony has also been issued on CD, as has his 1964 Proms performance of the 8th with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Sir Eugene Goossens recorded the 1920 edition of ''A London Symphony'' with the Cincinnati Orchestra for RCA Victor in 1941, the only recording of that version of the score ever made. Boult taped the first cycle (Symphonies 1–8) for Decca in the early 1950s, completing it with No. 9 for the Everest label in 1958; he re-recorded all nine for EMI between 1967 and 1972. Other cycles have followed from André Previn, Bernard Haitink, Bryden Thomson, Vernon Handley, Leonard Slatkin and Richard Hickox.

Several other foreign conductors have also recorded individual Vaughan Williams symphonies: Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein both recorded the Fourth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, the same orchestra with which Leopold Stokowski had made the first recording of the Sixth Symphony in 1949. This work was also recorded by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony in 1966. Paavo Berglund also recorded the Fourth and Sixth Symphonies and, among other CD releases, the Portuguese premiere of the Ninth Symphony, with Pedro de Freitas Branco conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of Portugal, has also been issued. Similarly, the US premiere of the Ninth Symphony, given by Leopold Stokowski in Carnegie Hall in 1958 'In Memoriam Vaughan Williams' has also been released on CD by Cala Records.

A first official release of the Symphony No. 5 conducted by the composer in 1952 was recently issued in the U.K. by Somm Recordings.

David Willcocks recorded much of the choral output for EMI in the 1960s and 1970s. Award-winning performances of the string quartets have followed on Naxos, which along with the Hyperion and Chandos labels have recorded much neglected material, including works for brass band and the rarely performed operas.

EMI Classics has issued a budget 30-CD set (34+ hours) with virtually all of Vaughan Williams's works, including alternative settings.

See also

International Council for Traditional Music

Notes

References

''Vaughan Williams on Music'', Ralph Vaughan Williams & David Manning. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-518239-2

''Heirs & Rebels'', Ralph Vaughan Williams & Gustav Holst; ed. Ursula Vaughan Williams & Imogen Holst. London, Oxford University Press, 1959.

''Vaughan Williams'', Simon Heffer. Northeastern; First American edition (1 March 2001). ISBN 978-1-55553-472-1.

External links

1956 audio interview with Vaughan Williams on his editing of the English Hymnal (from the BBC)

The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society

Vaughan Williams Phantasy Quintet Soundbites and discussion of work

(on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death)

"Famous names in the First World War—Ralph Vaughan Williams" from The National Archives, includes extracts from his army service record, and his 1901 Census return.

Category:1872 births Category:1958 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Ballet composers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Darwin-Wedgwood family Category:Deaf musicians Category:Decca Records artists Category:English agnostics Category:English composers Category:English folk-song collectors Category:English humanists Category:English people of Welsh descent Category:English socialists Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Old Carthusians Category:Opera composers Category:People from Cotswold (district) Category:Music and musicians from Gloucestershire Category:People of the Edwardian era Category:People of the Victorian era Category:Royal Artillery officers Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Composers for harmonica

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Name	David Tennant
Birthname	David John McDonald
Birth date	April 18, 1971
Birth place	Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland
Occupation	Actor, presenter
Yearsactive	1987–present
Spouse	Georgia Moffett (2011–present)
Children	1 daughter
Parents	Alexander McDonaldHelen McDonald (deceased)
Website	}}

David Tennant (born David John McDonald; 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised ''Hamlet'', Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'', along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial ''Casanova'' and as Barty Crouch, Jr. in the 2005 film adaptation, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''.

Early life

Tennant was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, the son of Essdale Helen (née McLeod) and Alexander McDonald. He grew up with his brother Blair and sister Karen in Ralston, Renfrewshire, where his father was the local Church of Scotland minister. Tennant's maternal great-grandparents, William and Agnes Blair, were staunch Protestants from Derry in Northern Ireland and among the signatories of the Ulster Covenant; William was a member of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland. Tennant's maternal grandfather, footballer Archie McLeod, met William and Agnes's daughter Nellie while playing for Derry City.

Tennant was educated at Ralston Primary and Paisley Grammar School where he enjoyed a fruitful relationship with English language teacher Moira Robertson, who was among the first to recognise his potential. He acted in school productions throughout primary and secondary school (his talent at this young age was spotted by actress Edith MacArthur, who after seeing his first role aged 11, told his parents she predicted he would become a successful stage actor). He also attended Saturday classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; at 16, he passed an audition for the Academy, one of their youngest students, and studied there between the ages of 17–20. He earned a bachelor's degree and was flatmates with friend Louise Delamere.

At the age of three, Tennant told his parents that he wanted to become an actor because he was a fan of ''Doctor Who'', and they tried to encourage him to do more conventional work. He watched almost every ''Doctor Who'' episode for years, and he met Tom Baker at a book signing event in Glasgow and spoke to him. Although such an aspiration might have been common for any British child of the 1970s, Tennant says he was "absurdly single-minded" in pursuing his goal. He adopted the professional name "Tennant" – inspired by Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, after reading a copy of ''Smash Hits'' magazine – because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the Equity union.

Career

Early work

Tennant made his professional acting debut while still in secondary school. When he was 16 he acted in an anti-smoking film made by the Glasgow Health Board which aired on television and was also screened in schools. The following year, he played a role in an episode of ''Dramarama''.

Tennant's first professional role upon graduating from drama school was in a staging of ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' co-starring Ashley Jensen, one of a few plays in which he performed as part of the agitprop 7:84 Theatre Company. Tennant also made an early television appearance in the Scottish TV sitcom ''Rab C Nesbitt'' as a transsexual barmaid called Davina. In the 1990s, Tennant appeared in several plays at the Dundee Repertory Theatre.

Tennant's first major TV role was as the manic depressive Campbell in the Scottish drama series ''Takin' Over the Asylum'' (1994). During filming, Tennant met comic actress and writer Arabella Weir. When he moved to London shortly afterwards he lodged with Weir for five years and became godfather to her youngest child. He has subsequently appeared alongside Weir in many productions; as a guest in her spoof television series, ''Posh Nosh''; in the ''Doctor Who'' audio drama ''Exile''—during which Weir played an alternate version of the Doctor—and as panellists on the ''West Wing Ultimate Quiz'' on More4.

One of his earliest big screen roles was in ''Jude'' (1996), in which he shared a scene with Christopher Eccleston, playing a drunken undergraduate who challenges Eccleston's Jude to prove his intellect. Coincidentally, Eccleston later portrayed the incarnation of The Doctor immediately preceding Tennant's.

Tennant developed his career in the British theatre, frequently performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His first Shakespearean role for the RSC was in ''As You Like It'' (1996); having auditioned for the role of Orlando, the romantic lead, he was instead cast as the jester Touchstone, which he played in his natural Scottish accent. He subsequently specialised in comic roles, playing Antipholus of Syracuse in ''The Comedy of Errors'' and Captain Jack Absolute in ''The Rivals'', although he also played the tragic role of Romeo in ''Romeo and Juliet''.

Tennant also contributed to several audio dramatisations of Shakespeare for the Arkangel Shakespeare series (1998). His roles include a reprisal of his Antipholus of Syracuse in ''The Comedy of Errors'', as well as Launcelot Gobbo in ''The Merchant of Venice'', Edgar/Poor Tom in ''King Lear'', and Mercutio in ''Romeo and Juliet'', all of which he performs in his natural accent.

In 1995, Tennant appeared at the Royal National Theatre, London, playing the role of Nicholas Beckett in Joe Orton's ''What the Butler Saw''. The plot required Tennant to appear naked on stage.

In television, Tennant appeared in the first episode of Reeves and Mortimer's re-vamped ''Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)'' in 2000, playing an eccentric artist. This is one of his few TV roles in his native Scottish accent. During the Christmas season of 2002, he starred in a series of television commercials for Boots the Chemists.

Tennant began to appear on television more prominently in 2004 and 2005, when he appeared in a dramatisation of ''He Knew He Was Right'' (2004), ''Blackpool'' (2004), ''Casanova'' (2005) and ''The Quatermass Experiment'' (2005).

In film, he appeared in Stephen Fry's ''Bright Young Things'' (2003) and played Barty Crouch Jr. in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005).

''Doctor Who'' (2005–2010)

''Doctor Who'' returned to British screens in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston playing the role of the Ninth Doctor. After Eccleston's announcement on 31 March 2005 that he would not be returning for a second series, the BBC confirmed Tennant as his replacement in a press release on 16 April 2005. He made his first, brief appearance as the Tenth Doctor in the episode "The Parting of the Ways" (2005) at the end of the regeneration scene, and also appeared in a special 7-minute mini-episode shown as part of the 2005 Children in Need appeal, broadcast on 18 November 2005. He began filming the new series of ''Doctor Who'' in late July 2005. His first full-length outing as the Doctor was a 60-minute special, "The Christmas Invasion", first broadcast on Christmas Day 2005.

Tennant has expressed enthusiasm about fulfilling his childhood dream. He remarked to an interviewer for GWR FM, "Who wouldn't want to be the Doctor? I've even got my own TARDIS!" In 2006, readers of ''Doctor Who Magazine'' voted Tennant 'Best Doctor!', over perennial favourite Tom Baker. In 2007, Tennant's Doctor was voted the "coolest character" on UK television in a ''Radio Times'' survey. When Tennant was cast as Eccleston's successor, he had wanted to use his native Scottish accent and become 'the first kilted Doctor' according to an interview in the ''Daily Star'', but writer Russell T Davies did not want the Doctor's accent 'touring the regions', so he used "estuary" English instead.

Tennant had previously had a small role in the BBC's animated ''Doctor Who'' webcast ''Scream of the Shalka''. Not originally cast in the production, Tennant happened to be recording a radio play in a neighbouring studio, and when he discovered what was being recorded next door managed to convince the director to give him a small role. This personal enthusiasm for the series had also been expressed by his participation in several audio plays based on the ''Doctor Who'' television series which had been produced by Big Finish Productions, although he did not play the Doctor in any of these productions. His first such role was in the Seventh Doctor audio ''Colditz'', where he played a Nazi lieutenant guard at Colditz Castle. In 2004 Tennant played a lead role in the Big Finish audio play series ''Dalek Empire III''. He played the part of Galanar, a young man who is given an assignment to discover the secrets of the Daleks. In 2005, he starred in ''UNIT: The Wasting'' for Big Finish, recreating his role of Brimmicombe-Wood from a Doctor Who Unbound play, ''Sympathy for the Devil''. In both of these audio productions Tennant worked alongside Doctor Who-alumnus Nicholas Courtney, who reprised the character of Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. He also played an unnamed Time Lord in another Doctor Who Unbound play ''Exile''. ''UNIT: The Wasting'', was recorded between Tennant getting the role of the Doctor and it being announced. He also played the title role in Big Finish's adaptation of Bryan Talbot's ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' (2005). In 2006, he recorded abridged audio books of ''The Stone Rose'' by Jacqueline Rayner, ''The Feast of the Drowned'' by Stephen Cole and ''The Resurrection Casket'' by Justin Richards, for BBC Worldwide.

He made his directorial debut directing the ''Doctor Who Confidential'' episode that accompanies Steven Moffat's episode "Blink", entitled "Do You Remember The First Time?", which aired on 9 June 2007. In 2007, Tennant's Tenth Doctor appeared with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in a ''Doctor Who'' special for Children in Need, written by Steven Moffat and entitled "Time Crash". This was the first "multi-Doctor" story in the series since ''The Two Doctors'' in 1985 (not counting the 1993 special ''Dimensions in Time''). Tennant also later performed alongside Davison's daughter, Georgia Moffett, in the 2008 episode "The Doctor's Daughter" with her taking the titular role as Jenny.

Tennant also featured as the Doctor in an animated version of ''Doctor Who'' for ''Totally Doctor Who'', ''The Infinite Quest'', which aired on CBBC. He also starred as the Doctor in another animated six-part ''Doctor Who'' series, ''Dreamland''. Tennant guest-starred as the Doctor in a two-part story in ''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', broadcast in October 2009. Tennant continued to play the Tenth Doctor into the revived programme's fourth series in 2008. However, on 29 October 2008, Tennant announced that he would be stepping down from the role after three full series. He played the Doctor in four special episodes in 2009, before his final episode aired on 1 January 2010. The ''Daily Mirror'' reported that Tennant was forbidden from attending ''Doctor Who'' fan conventions while playing the role. This was done to avoid the chance that Tennant could accidentally let slip any plot points during filming of the series. He said at the Children in Need concert that his favourite ''Doctor Who'' story is ''Genesis of the Daleks'' from the Tom Baker era, while another interview included him mentioning that his favourite classic monsters were the Zygons; although he never appeared in a television story with the Zygons, his Doctor confronted them in the novel ''Sting of the Zygons''.

Other television roles (2005–present)

While playing the Doctor, Tennant was also in the early December 2005 ITV drama ''Secret Smile''. His performance as Jimmy Porter in ''Look Back in Anger'' at the Theatre Royal, Bath and Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh was recorded by the National Video Archive of Performance for the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre Collection. He revived this performance for the anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre in a rehearsed reading. In January 2006, he took a one-day break from shooting ''Doctor Who'' to play Richard Hoggart in a dramatisation of the 1960 ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' obscenity trial, ''The Chatterley Affair''. The play was written by Andrew Davies and directed by ''Doctor Who'''s James Hawes for the digital television channel BBC Four. Hoggart's son Simon Hoggart praised Tennant's performance in ''The Guardian'' newspaper.

On 25 February 2007, Tennant starred in ''Recovery'', a 90-minute BBC1 drama written by Tony Marchant. Tennant played Alan, a self-made building site manager who attempted to rebuild his life after suffering a debilitating brain injury. His co-star in the drama was friend Sarah Parish, with whom he had previously appeared in ''Blackpool'' and an episode of ''Doctor Who''. She joked that "we're like George and Mildred – in 20 years' time we'll probably be doing a ropey old sitcom in a terraced house in Preston." Later in 2007 he starred in ''Learners'', a BBC comedy drama written by and starring Jessica Hynes (another ''Doctor Who'' co-star, in the episodes "Human Nature", "The Family of Blood" and "The End of Time"), in which he played a Christian driving instructor who became the object of a student's affection. ''Learners'' was broadcast on BBC One on 11 November 2007. Tennant had a cameo appearance as the Doctor in the 2007 finale episode of the BBC/HBO comedy series ''Extras'' alongside Ricky Gervais. In November 2008 Tennant played Sir Arthur Eddington in the BBC and HBO biopic ''Einstein and Eddington'', which was filmed in Cambridge and Hungary.

In 2009 he worked on a film version of the RSC's 2008 ''Hamlet'' for BBC2. From October 2009, he hosted the ''Masterpiece Contemporary'' programming strand on the American Public Broadcasting Service. In December 2009, he filmed the lead in an NBC pilot, ''Rex Is Not Your Lawyer,'' playing Rex, a Chicago lawyer who starts to coach clients to represent themselves when he starts suffering panic attacks. The pilot was not picked up and the project was shelved. In October 2010 he starred as Dave, a man struggling to raise five children after the death of his partner, in the British drama ''Single Father''. For this role he was nominated as Best Actor at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2010.

In 2011 he starred in the BBC Two British TV film ''United'', which tells the story of the Manchester United "Busby Babes" team and the 1958 Munich air disaster, playing coach and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy. In September 2011, he appeared in a guest role in one episode of the comedy series ''This is Jinsy'', and also started filming Love Life, a semi-improvised BBC1 drama series, on location in Margate, Kent.

Other work (2007–present)

Tennant is the voice behind the 2007 advertising campaign for catalogue retailer Argos and appeared in adverts for The Proclaimers 2008 album and learndirect's in June 2008, using his natural Scottish accent in both. More recently, Tennant's voice can be heard on Tesco Mobile and Nintendo Wii adverts.

Tennant appeared in Derren Brown's ''Trick or Treat''. In the 26 April – 2 May issue of ''TV & Satellite Week'' Brown is quoted as saying "One of the appeals of ''Doctor Who'' for David is time travel, so I wanted to give him that experience. He was open and up for it, and I got a good reaction. He's a real screamer!". The episode aired on Channel 4 on 16 May 2008, and showed Tennant apparently predicting future events correctly by using automatic writing. Tennant also returned for the final episode of the series with the rest of the participants from the other episodes in the series to take part in one final experiment.

Tennant appeared in the 2008 episode "Holofile 703: Us and Phlegm" of the radio series ''Nebulous'' (a parody of ''Doctor Who'') in the role of Doctor Beep, using his Lothian accent.

In 2008, Tennant voiced the character of Hamish the Hunter in the 2008 English language DVD re-release of the 2006 animated Norwegian film, ''Free Jimmy'', alongside Woody Harrelson. The English language version of the film has dialogue written by Simon Pegg, who also starred in it as a main voice actor.

In early 2009 Tennant narrated the digital planetarium space dome film "We are Astronomers" commissioned by the UK's National Space Centre.

On 13 March 2009, Tennant presented Comic Relief with Davina McCall. He played guitar with band Franz Ferdinand on a special Comic Relief edition of ''Top of the Pops''.

In summer 2009, he filmed ''St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold'' in which he plays the antagonist, Pomfrey. The film was released in December 2009.

At the October 2009 Spooky Empire convention, John Landis announced Tennant's casting in his movie ''Burke and Hare'', starring alongside Simon Pegg. In January 2010 it was announced Tennant had dropped out of the film (replaced by Andy Serkis) due to scheduling problems.

In November 2009, Tennant co-hosted the Absolute Radio Breakfast Show with Christian O'Connell for three consecutive days. He returned to co-host the show for one day in October 2010 and again in September 2011.

Tennant also provides the narration and all the character voices for the audio book versions of the ''Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III'' stories by Cressida Cowell such as ''How to Train Your Dragon''. In these audio books, Tennant employs his vocal skills to create a vast cast of recognisably distinct voices. Some of his most memorable characterisations include the Norfolk yokel of Norbert the Nutjob, the broad Glaswegian of Gobber the Belch, the hissing and whining of Toothless the Dragon and the sly insinuations of Alvin the Treacherous. He also played the role of Spitelout in the recent animated film adaption of said books. On 7 March 2010 he also appeared as George in a one-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation of ''Of Mice and Men'' in the ''Classic Serial'' strand.

Tennant appeared alongside former co-star Catherine Tate in the Shakespeare comedy ''Much Ado About Nothing'' at London's Wyndham's Theatre from 16 May 2011 to 3 September 2011. For his performance - as Benedick - he won the BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play.

In September 2011, it was announced that Tennant will voice a character in the movie adaptation of ''Postman Pat'' named ''You Know You’re the One'' next to Rupert Grint, Stephen Mangan and Jim Broadbent with a planned 3D theatrical release for spring 2013.

In October 2011, Tennant started shooting the semi-improvised comedy film ''Nativity 2: The Second Coming'' (the sequel to ''Nativity!'') in Coventry. Tennant doubles two roles, playing the main character, put-upon teacher Mr Peterson, as well as his 'golden boy' twin brother and rival.

Royal Shakespeare Company (2008–2009)

Despite his recent focus on television work, Tennant has described theatre work as his "default way of being". It was announced on 30 August 2007 that he would join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), to play Hamlet (alongside Patrick Stewart) and Berowne (in ''Love's Labours Lost'') during 2008. From August to November 2008 he appeared at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as Hamlet, playing that role in repertory with Berowne that October and November. ''Hamlet'' transferred to the Novello Theatre in London's West End in December 2008, but Tennant suffered a prolapsed disc during previews and was unable to perform from 8 December 2008 until 2 January 2009, during which time the role was played by his understudy Edward Bennett. He returned to his role in the production on 3 January 2009, and appeared until the run ended on 10 January.

On 12 April 2011, a photograph of Tennant as Hamlet featured on a stamp issued by the Royal Mail to mark the RSC's fiftieth anniversary.

In January 2012, Tennant was appointed to the Royal Shakespeare Company board, to be on the selection committee interviewing and choosing the new artistic director.

Popularity

In December 2005, ''The Stage'' newspaper listed Tennant at No. 6 in its "Top Ten" listing of the most influential UK television artists of the year, citing his roles in ''Blackpool'', ''Casanova'', ''Secret Smile'' and ''Doctor Who''. In January 2006, readers of the British gay and lesbian newspaper ''The Pink Paper'' voted Tennant the "Sexiest Man in the Universe" over David Beckham and Brad Pitt. A poll of over 10,000 women for the March 2006 issue of ''New Woman'' magazine ranked him 20th in their list of the "Top 100 Men". In October 2006, Tennant was named as "Scotland's most stylish male" in the Scottish Style Awards. He was named "Coolest Man on TV" of 2007 in a Radio Times survey. He also won the National Television Awards award for Most Popular Actor in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. He was voted 16th Sexiest Man In The World by a 2008 Cosmopolitan survey.

He was ranked the 24th most influential person in the British media, in the 9 July 2007 ''MediaGuardian'' supplement of ''The Guardian''. Tennant appeared in the paper's annual media rankings in 2006.

In December 2008 Tennant was named as one of the most influential people in show business by British theatre and entertainment magazine ''The Stage'', making him the fifth actor to achieve a ranking in the top 20 (in a list typically dominated by producers and directors). One of the editors for ''The Stage'' said that Tennant placed highly on the list because he was "the biggest box office draw in recent memory".

The popularity of Tennant has led to impersonations of him on various social networking sites, leading the BBC to issue a statement making it clear that Tennant does not use any of these sites and any account or message purporting to be or from him is fake.

Personal life

Tennant has a brother, Blair, and a sister, Karen. His mother Helen died on 15 July 2007 of cancer. His father, Sandy McDonald, appeared in a cameo non-speaking role as a footman in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp". Tennant traced his family tree in an episode of BBC One's popular genealogy series ''Who Do You Think You Are?'', broadcast on 27 September 2006. His episode explored both his Scottish ancestry and that from Northern Ireland, against the backdrop of the Troubles in the latter. Tennant's maternal great-great-grandfather, James Blair, was a prominent Ulster Unionist member of Londenderry county borough council after the partition of Ireland. Tennant displayed discomfort after learning of his great-great-grandfather's membership in the Orange Order. The programme revealed that Archie McLeod, the husband of Nellie Blair, who once played with Derry City, was Tennant's grandfather. Tennant is now a member of the club's Exiles Supporters Club.

In 2008 Tennant was voted "Greenest Star on the Planet" in an online vote held by Playhouse Disney as part of the Playing for the Planet Awards. Later that year he underwent surgery for a prolapsed disc.

Tennant is a supporter of the Labour Party and appeared in a party political broadcast for them in 2005. In 2010 he declared his support for then-UK prime minister, Gordon Brown and in April 2010 he lent his voice to a Labour Party election broadcast. He is a celebrity patron of the Association for International Cancer Research.

He believes that religion "must have" shaped his character, and he is an occasional churchgoer.

Tennant does not discuss his personal life and especially his relationships in interviews. "Relationships are hard enough with the people you're having them with, let alone talking about them in public," he said in December 2009. He dated Sophia Myles in 2006.

In January 2011, several newspapers in Britain reported that Tennant was engaged to actress Georgia Moffett. They have a daughter, born in March 2011. Tennant and Moffett married on 30 December 2011.

Filmography

Television

''Dramarama (TV series) ''Strathblair'' ''Rab C Nesbitt'' ''Takin' Over the Asylum'' ''The Bill'' ''A Mug's Game'' ''Bite'' ''Duck Patrol'' ''The Mrs Bradley Mysteries'' ''Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)'' ''Sweetnight Goodheart'' ''Boot's Christmas Advert'' ''Terri McIntyre '' ''The Deputy'' ''The Quatermass Experiment (2005) ''Doctor Who'' ''Secret Smile'' ''The Romantics'' ''Recovery (TV drama) ''Einstein and Eddington'' ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' ''Single Father (TV drama) ''United (TV drama)

style="background:#b0c4de; width:10%;"	Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	''Anti-Smoking film''	Jim
1988	Dramarama'' ||	Neil McDonald	Dramarama (TV series)#Episodes>The Secret of Croftmore"
rowspan="2"	1992	|	Hiker 2	Series 1
''Bunch of Five''	Policeman
rowspan="2"	1993	|	Davina	Rab C Nesbitt#Episodes>Touch"
''Spaces''	Vinny
1994	|	Campbell Bain
rowspan="2"	1995	|	Steve Clemens	List of The Bill episodes/11#Series 11 (1995)>Deadline"
''The Tales of Para Handy''	John MacBryde
1996	|	Gavin	Series 1, Episode 4
rowspan="3"	1997	|	Alastair Galbraith	short film
''Holding the Baby''	Nurse
''Conjuring Shakespeare''	Angelo
1998	|	Simon "Darwin" Brown
1999	|	Max Valentine	The Mrs Bradley Mysteries#1999 (4 episodes, approximately 60 minutes)>Death at the Opera". Appeared alongside Peter Davison, one of his predecessors in ''Doctor Who''. Both would feature in a ''Children in Need'' special episode, "Time Crash"
2000	|	Gordon Stylus	Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)#Series 1>Drop Dead"
rowspan="4"	2001	|	Peter	short film
''People Like Us''
''High Stakes (sitcom)	High Stakes''	Gaz Whitney
''Only Human''	Tyler
rowspan="3"	2002	|	Husband
''Foyle's War''
''Nine 1/2 Minutes''	Charlie
rowspan="4"	2003	|	Greig Millar	Series 2
''Trust''	Gavin MacEwan
''Posh Nosh''	Jose-Luis
''Spine Chillers''	Dr. Krull
rowspan="5"	2004	|	Christopher Williams
''He Knew He Was Right (TV serial)	He Knew He Was Right''	Rev Gibson
''Traffic Warden''	The Traffic Warden
''Old Street''	Mr. Watson
''Blackpool (TV serial)	Blackpool''	DI Carlisle
rowspan="2"	2005	The Quatermass Experiment'' ||	Dr Gordon Briscoe
''Casanova (2005 TV serial)	Casanova''	Giacomo Casanova
2005–2010	|	Tenth Doctor>The Doctor	Series 2–4 and several special episodes
2005	|	Brendan Block
rowspan="2"	2006	|	Jean-Jacques Rousseau
''The Chatterley Affair''	Richard Hoggart
rowspan="5"	2007	Recovery'' ||	Alan Hamilton
''Comic Relief (charity)#2007 event	Comic Relief Sketch''	Mr Logan/The Doctor
''Dead Ringers (comedy)	Dead Ringers''	Regeneration (Doctor Who)>Regenerated Tony Blair
''Learners''	Chris
''Extras (TV series)	Extras''
2008	|	Arthur Stanley Eddington>Sir Arthur Eddington
rowspan="4"	2009	|	The Doctor	Series 3, episodes 5 and 6, "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"
''Rex Is Not Your Lawyer''	Rex Alexander
''The Catherine Tate Show''	Ghost of Christmas Present
''Hamlet (2009 television film)	Hamlet''	Prince Hamlet
2010	Single Father'' ||	Dave Tiler
rowspan="3"	2011	United'' ||	Jimmy Murphy (footballer)>Jimmy Murphy
''This is Jinsy''	Mr Slightlyman
''Love Life (TV series)	Love Life''	Nick

Narration and personal appearances

''Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series) ''The Friday Night Project'' ''The Human Footprint'' ''Everest ER'' ''Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions'' ''Masterpiece (TV series) ''Newsround#Newsround Specials ''The Father of Australia'' ''Wild About Pandas''

style="background:#b0c4de; width:10%;"	Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	''Doctor Who: A New Dimension''	Narrator
rowspan="2"	2006	Who Do You Think You Are?'' ||	Himself	Series 3, Episode 4
''What Makes Me Happy''
2007, 2008	|	Guest host	[[The Sunday Night Project#Series 4
2007	|	Narrator
rowspan="2"	2008	|	Narrator
''Trick or Treat (TV series)	Trick or Treat''	Himself
rowspan="6"	2009	|	Narrator
''Red Nose Day 2009	Comic Relief 2009''	Presenter
''Doctor Who: Tonight's the Night''	Himself
''Troubled Young Minds''	Narrator
''QI''
''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''
2009–	Masterpiece Contemporary'' ||	Host
rowspan="9"	2010	Caught in the Web – A Newsround Special'' ||	Narrator
''Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man''	Narrator
''My Life''	Narrator
''Diet or My Husband Dies''	Narrator
''Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide''	Himself
''Stealing Shakespeare''	Narrator
''Ask Rhod Gilbert''
''Chris Moyles' Quiz Night''	Himself
''BBC Wildlife Specials: Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice''	Narrator
rowspan="7"	2011	|	Narrator
''Twenty Twelve (TV series)	Twenty Twelve''	Narrator
''Starlight: For The Children''	Narrator
''The TA & The Taliban''	Narrator
''Gerry Rafferty: Right Down the Line''	Narrator
''Shrek: Once Upon a Time''	Narrator
''Earthflight''	Narrator
rowspan="2"	2012	|	Narrator
''Tree Fu Tom''	Twigs

Film

''L.A. Without a Map'' ''The Last September'' ''Being Considered'' ''Bright Young Things'' ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) ''Free Jimmy'' ''Glorious 39'' ''How to Train Your Dragon (film) >''The Decoy Bride'' ''Pirates

style="background:#b0c4de; width:10%;"	Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Jude (film)>Jude''	Drunk Undergraduate
1998	|	Richard	Plays lead opposite Vinessa Shaw. Also features Johnny Depp
1999	|	Captain Gerald Colthurst
2000	|	Larry
2003	|	Ginger Littlejohn
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' ||	Barty Crouch, Jr>Barty Crouch Jr.
2006	|	Hamish	voice only
rowspan="2"	2009	|	Hector
''St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold''	Sir Piers Pomfrey
	2010	How to Train Your Dragon'' ||	Spitelout	voice only
rowspan="3"	2011	|	James Arbor
''Fright Night (2011 film)	Fright Night''	Peter Vincent
''The Itch of the Golden Nit''	News announcer / Stretchy McStretch
rowspan="2"	2012	(2012 film)	The Pirates! Band of Misfits''	Charles Darwin
''Nativity 2: The Second Coming''	Mr Peterson

Radio and CD audio drama

''Hemlock and After'' ''Fire In The Heart'' ''Henry VI, Part 1 '' ''Much Ado about Nothing'' ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook (TV & radio) ''Sympathy for the Devil (Doctor Who audio) ''The Exterminators (Doctor Who audio) ''UNIT: The Wasting'' ''The Virgin Radio Christmas Panto'' ''The Wooden Overcoat'' ''Pest Control (Doctor Who audio) ''The Day of the Troll ''Of Mice and Men'' ''My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece''

style="background:#b0c4de; width:10%;"	Year	Title	Role	Radio Station / Production Company
1996	''Paint Her Well''	The Son
rowspan="3"	1998	|	Eric Craddock	BBC Radio 4
''The Airmen Who Would Not Die''	Captain Raymond "Hinch" Hinchliffe
''The Golden Triangle: The Order of Release''	John Everett Millais
1999	|	Reader	BBC Radio 4
rowspan="4"	2000	|	Henry VI of England>Henry VI	Arkangel Shakespeare
''Henry VI, Part 2 ''	Henry VI
''Henry VI, Part 3 ''	Henry VI
''The Sea''	Willy Carson
rowspan="4"	2001	|	Benedick	BBC Radio 4
''Sunday Worship''	Himself (Presenter)
''Colditz (Doctor Who audio)	Doctor Who: Colditz''
''Dr. Finlay's Casebook (TV & radio)	Dr Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag''	Jackson
rowspan="2"	2002	Dr Finlay: Further Adventures of a Black Bag'' ||	McKellor	BBC Radio 4
''Double Income, No Kids Yet''	Daniel
rowspan="8"	2003	Doctor Who: Sympathy For The Devil'' ||	Col. Brimmecombe-Wood	Big Finish Productions>Big Finish
''Exile (Doctor Who audio)	Doctor Who: Exile''	Time Lord # 2/Pub Landlord >
''Caesar! – Peeling Figs for Julius''	Caligula
''Scream of the Shalka	Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka''
''The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents''	Dangerous Beans
''Pompeii (novel)	Pompeii''	Narrator
''The Rotters' Club (novel)	The Rotters' Club''	Bill Trotter
''Strangers and Brothers''	Donald Howerd
rowspan="9"	2004	Dalek Empire III'' ||	Galanar	Big Finish Productions>Big Finish
''Medicinal Purposes	Doctor Who: Medicinal Purposes''
''Quite Ugly One Morning''	Narrator
''Starter for Ten (novel)	Starter for Ten''	Narrator
''Whiteout (novel)	Whiteout''	Narrator
''The Merchant of Venice''	Launcelot Gobbo
''Richard III (play)	Richard III''	The Archbishop/Ghost of Henry VI
''How to Train Your Dragon''	Narrator
''How to Be a Pirate''	Narrator
rowspan="8"	2005	|	Col. Brimmecombe-Wood	Big Finish Productions>Big Finish
''Dixon of Dock Green''	PC Andy Crawford
''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright''
''The Beasts of Clawstone Castle''	Narrator
''Macbeth ''	Porter
''King Lear ''	Edgar
''The Comedy of Errors ''	Antipholus of Syracuse
''Romeo and Juliet ''	Mercutio
rowspan="5"	2006	|	Buttons	Virgin Radio
''The Stone Rose	Doctor Who: The Stone Rose''	Narrator
''The Resurrection Casket	Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket''	Narrator
''The Feast of the Drowned	Doctor Who: The Feast of the Drowned''	Narrator
''How to Speak Dragonese''	Narrator
rowspan="2"	2007	|	Peter	BBC Radio 4
''How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse''	Narrator
	2008	Doctor Who: Pest Control'' ||	Narrator	BBC Audio
rowspan="2"	2009	Doctor Who: The Day of the Troll'' ||	Narrator	BBC Audio
''How to Twist a Dragon's Tale''	Narrator
rowspan="9"	2010	|	George Milton	BBC Radio 4
''Murder in Samarkand''	Craig Murray
''How to Ride a Dragon's Storm''	Narrator
''The Last Voyage (Doctor Who)	Doctor Who: The Last Voyage''	Narrator
''Dead Air (Doctor Who)	Doctor Who: Dead Air''	Narrator
''Bear Snores On''	Narrator
''Dogfish''	Narrator
''How Roald Dahl Shaped Pop''	Narrator
''Book at Bedtime''	Narrator
rowspan="12"	2011	|	Narrator	Orion Books
''Kafka: The Musical''	Franz Kafka
''The Gobetweenies''	Joe
''Tales of Hans Christian Andersen''	Narrator
''The Purple Land''	Richard Lamb
''Life and Fate''	Nikolai Krymov
''How to Break a Dragon's Heart''	Narrator
''A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons''	Narrator
''Supermarket Zoo''	Narrator
''Book at Bedtime''	Narrator
''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (novel)	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again''	Narrator
''The Pied Piper of Hamelin''	Narrator

Theatre

''Fools (play) ''Mozart from A to Z'' ''Shinda the Magic Ape'' ''Jump the Life to Come'' ''Merlin'' ''Antigone (Sophocles) ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' ''What the Butler Saw (play) ''The Glass Menagerie'' ''Hurly Burly'' ''The Real Inspector Hound'' ''Maxim Gorky ''The Comedy of Errors'' ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' ''Push-Up'' ''The Pillowman'' ''The Fleer'' ''Look Back in Anger'' ''Look Back in Anger'' ''Hamlet'' ''Celebrity Autobiography'' ''Much Ado About Nothing''

style="background:#b0c4de; width:10%;"	Year	Title	Role	Theatre / Notes
1989	''The Ghost of Benjy O'Neil''	The Ghost
rowspan="2"	1990	Fools'' ||	Leon Steponovitch Tolchinsky	Made in Glasgow (RSAMD Student Company), Chandler Studio, RSAMD
''Twelve Angry Men (play)	Twelve Angry Men''
rowspan="2"	1991	|	Mozart	RSAMD
''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui''
1991-2	|		Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
rowspan="4"	1992	|		rowspan="2"
''Scotland Matters''
''Hay Fever''	Simon
''Tartuffe''	Valere
1992-3	|	King Arthur>Arthur	UK tour
rowspan="2"	1993	Antigone'' ||	Haemon	7:84
''The Princess and the Goblin''	Curdie
rowspan="2"	1994	|	Edmund	Dundee Repertory Theatre.
''The Slab Boys Trilogy''	Alan
rowspan="2"	1995	What the Butler Saw'' ||	Nick	Royal National Theatre
''An Experienced Woman Gives Advice''	Kenny
rowspan="5"	1996	|	Tom	Dundee Repertory Theatre
''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf''	Nick
''As You Like It''
''The General From America''	Hamilton
''The Herbal Bed''	Jack Lane
rowspan="3"	1997	|	Mickey	Old Vic/Queen's Theatre
''Tamagotchi Heaven''	Boyfriend
''Blue'', a monologue written by Derek Jarman
rowspan="3"	1998	|	Moon	Comedy Theatre
''Black Comedy''	Brinsley Miller
''For One Night Only''
rowspan="3"	1999	Vassa – Scenes from Family Life'' ||	Pavel	Albery Theatre
''Edward III (play)	Edward III''	Edward, the Black Prince
''King Lear''	Edgar
rowspan="4"	2000	|	Antipholus of Syracuse	Royal Shakespeare Company
''The Rivals''	Jack
''Romeo and Juliet''	Romeo
''Laughter in the Dark''
rowspan="3"	2001	|	Lysander and Flute.	Royal Shakespeare Company at Barbican Centre>The Barbican
''Comedians (play)	Comedians''	Gethin Price
''Medea (play)	Medea''	Bodyguard
rowspan="2"	2002	|	Robert	Royal Court Theatre
''Lobby Hero''	Jeff
rowspan="2"	2003	|	Katurian	National Theatre
''London Concert for Peace''	Performer 'Nevertheless'
2004	|	Lord Piso	Shakespeare's Globe (staged reading 2004-06-20, at the Globe Education Centre)
2005	|	Jimmy Porter	Theatre Royal, Bath/ Royal Lyceum Theatre
2006	|	Jimmy Porter	Royal Court Theatre (rehearsed reading)
rowspan="2"	2008	|	Prince Hamlet>Hamlet	Royal Shakespeare Company/Novello Theatre London
''Love's Labour's Lost''	Berowne
2010	|	Various characters	Leicester Square Theatre (guest starred in two performances)
2011	|	Benedick	Wyndham's Theatre

Awards and nominations

;Awards 2005 Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland, Best Male Performance: Jimmy Porter in ''Look Back in Anger'' 2006 TV Quick and TV Choice Award, Best Actor: ''Doctor Who'' 2006 National Television Award, Best Actor: ''Doctor Who'' 2007 Welsh BAFTAs, Best Actor, ''Doctor Who'' 2007 The Constellation Awards, Best Male Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Television Episode: ''Doctor Who: The Girl In The Fireplace'' 2007 TV Quick and TV Choice Award, Best Actor: ''Doctor Who'' 2007 National Television Awards, Most Popular Actor 2007 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award, screen award 2008 The Constellation Awards, Best Male Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode: ''Doctor Who: Human Nature/The Family Of Blood'' 2008 TV Quick and TV Choice Award, Best Actor: ''Doctor Who'' 2008 National Television Award, Outstanding Drama Performance: ''Doctor Who'' 2009 Critics' Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his role as Hamlet. He will share the award with Sir Derek Jacobi for his performance as Malvolio in ''Twelfth Night''. 2009 Theatregoers' Choice Awards, The AKA Theatre Event of the Year for his performance in ''Hamlet''

2010 National Television Award, Outstanding Drama Performance: ''Doctor Who''

2010 The Constellation Awards, Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Television Episode: ''Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars'' 2011 TV Choice Award, Best Actor: ''Single Father''

;Nominations 1996 Theatre Management Association Best Actor Award: for ''The Glass Menagerie'' and ''An Experienced Woman Gives Advice''. 2000 Ian Charleson Award (Best classical actor under 30): ''The Comedy of Errors''. 2003 Olivier Award as Best Actor: ''Lobby Hero''. 2006 Broadcasting Press Guild Best Actor award for ''Casanova'', ''Secret Smile'' and ''Doctor Who''. 2008 Royal Television Society Programme Awards, Best Actor for ''Recovery'' and ''Doctor Who''. 2008 Best Actor in a Drama Series for the role of the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' at the Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy. 2009 Broadcasting Press Guild Best Actor award for ''Einstein and Eddington'' and ''Doctor Who''. 2009 Scottish BAFTA Acting in TV Male for ''Doctor Who''. 2009 Standard Theatre awards, longlist, Best Actor for ''Hamlet''. 2009 Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television, ''Doctor Who: The End of Time'' 2010 Broadcasting Press Guild Best Actor award for ''Hamlet'' and ''Doctor Who''. 2011 Royal Television Society Programme Awards, Best Actor for ''Single Father''

See also

Andre Tchaikowsky#Skull

References

Further reading

Smallwood, Robert (editor) (2000). ''Players of Shakespeare 4: Further Essays in Shakespearean Performance by Players with the Royal Shakespeare Company'', David Tennant on playing Touchstone in As You Like It, pp. 30–44. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79416-1

Smallwood, Robert (editor) (2005). ''Players of Shakespeare 5: Further Essays in Shakespearean Performance by Players with the Royal Shakespeare Company'', David Tennant on playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, pp. 113–130. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-67698-3

Mitchell, Molly (2009). ''David Tennant''. London: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-409-10469-8

External links

Hamlet, (3:05:52), Great Performances, PBS, 28 April 2008 (video-only link)

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:People of Northern Ireland descent Category:Scottish Protestants Category:Audio book narrators Category:People educated at Paisley Grammar School Category:People from Crouch End Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Alumni of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Scottish film actors Category:Scottish stage actors Category:Scottish television actors Category:Scottish voice actors Category:Shakespearean actors Category:People from Bathgate Category:People from Paisley

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