Vaughan Williams, Ralph 1872-1958
English composer

Born in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, he studied under Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music, under Max Bruch in Berlin and under Maurice Ravel in Paris. In touch from the start with the English choral tradition, he had his first success with the choral Sea Symphony (1910), set to words by Walt Whitman, in which traditional choral styles were married to a vigorously contemporary outlook. Under the influence of Gustav Holst he became a leader in the English folk-song movement, adding this tradition to the styles of Tudor church music, of Charles Parry and the teaching of Ravel that influenced his own work. He was director of the Leith Hill Festival from 1905. Between the London Symphony (1914) and the Pastoral Symphony (1922) came a large number of works in all forms, including the ballad opera Hugh the Drover (1911-14). The ballet Job (1930) was notable for its concern with the moral issues of contemporary life, and it was followed by seven further symphonies, the opera The Pilgrim's Progress (1948-49) and numerous choral works. His versatility was demonstrated by his ability to provide music of equal quality for the stage (1909, Aristophanes' The Wasps), and for films such as 49th Parallel (1940-41) and Scott of the Antarctic (1947-48). He published National Music (1934) and Beethoven's Choral Symphony and Other Papers, and in 1935 was appointed to the Order of Merit.