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A comprehensive biography of the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), who wrote operas, ballets, symphonies, hymns and folk-song arrangements. Learn about his life, influences, works, legacy and personal relationships.
Aug 22, 2024 · Ralph Vaughan Williams (born October 12, 1872, Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England—died August 26, 1958, London, England) was an English composer in the first half of the 20th century, and the founder of the nationalist movement in English music.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Lark Ascending. The Lark Ascending is a “pastoral romance for orchestra”, with solo violin, based on a poem by George Meredith. The writing – in the poem and the resulting piece of music – is nostalgic, and Vaughan Williams draws on folk melodies and programmatic writing that seems to trace the journey of the lark as it bursts into flight.
- Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Vaughan Williams composed his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis in 1910, to great acclaim. It’s a one-movement piece for string orchestra, based on a tune from the 16th century written by, as the name of VW’s work suggests, one Thomas Tallis.
- The Wasps. The Wasps is an enduringly loved stage score of Vaughan Williams’. It was actually commissioned by a drama committee at Cambridge University, the Cambridge Greek Play committee, who were staging Aristophanes’ work of this name.
- Symphony No. 5. This symphony, written between 1938 and 1943, is Vaughan Williams’ orchestral music at its pastoral, romantic best. The composer used lots of the fine tunes in this symphony that were lying around, waiting to be used for his opera, The Pilgrim’s Progress (see below).
Learn about the life and works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the great symphonists of the 20th century and a pioneer of English folk music. Explore his influences, achievements, relationships, awards and legacy through words, music and memories.
Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in ‘The Vicarage’, in Down Ampney, on 12 October 1872. He was the third child of Arthur and Margaret Vaughan Williams. Arthur Vaughan Williams and Margaret Wedgwood married in 1866. Arthur was ordained vicar of All Saints church, Down Ampney, in 1868.
Listen to the famous orchestral work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on a theme by his Renaissance predecessor Thomas Tallis. The video features the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bryden Thomson.
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Orchestral suites by Ralph Vaughan-Williams.01. The Wasps (Aristophanic suite) 00:00OvertureEntr'acteMarch Past of the Kitchen UtensilsEntr'acteBallet and Fi...
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- VSP Musical
