Ralph Vaughan Williams

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Born: Oct 12, 1872; England   Died: Aug 26, 1958; England   Period: 20th Century
Ralph Vaughan Williams left a varied oeuvre that includes orchestral works, songs, operas, and various choral compositions. While primarily drawing on the rich tradition of English folksong and hymnody, Vaughan Williams produced well-loved works that fit into larger European traditions and gained worldwide popularity.

Vaughan Williams, who lost his father early in life, was cared for by his mother. Related, through his mother, to both Read more Charles Darwin and the Wedgwoods of pottery fame, he grew up without financial worries. He studied history and music at Trinity College, Cambridge, and finished up at the Royal College of Music, where he worked with Parry, Wood, and Stanford. In 1897, the year he married Adeline Fisher, Vaughan Williams traveled to Berlin to study with Max Bruch, also seeking Maurice Ravel as a teacher several years later, despite the fact that the French composer was three years his junior. In 1903, he started collecting English folksongs; certain characteristics of English folk music, particularly its modal tonalities, in many ways informed his approach to composition. Vaughan Williams further developed his style while working as editor of the English Hymnal, which was completed in 1906. His work on the English Hymnal went beyond editing, for he contributed several new hymn tunes, most notably the Sine nomine, the tune for the hymn For All the Saints. The composer's interest in and knowledge of traditional English music is reflected in his song cycle On Wenlock Edge (1909), based on selections from A.E. Housman's immensely popular volume of poetry A Shropshire Lad. In his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed in 1910, Vaughan Williams introduced antiphonal effects within the context of modal tonality, juxtaposing consonant, but unrelated, triads. Composed in 1914, his Symphony No. 2, "A London Symphony" brings to life, with great charm, the sounds of London from dawn to dusk. That year, Vaughan Williams also wrote his pastoral The Lark Ascending, for violin and orchestra. When World War I broke out, the 41-year-old composer enlisted as an orderly in the medical corps, becoming famous for organizing choral singing and other entertainment in the trenches. He was commissioned from the ranks, ending his war service as an artillery officer. The war interrupted the composer's work but did not, it seems, disrupt the inner continuity of his creative development. The Symphony No. 3 ("Pastoral"), composed in 1922, conjures up a familiar world, effectively incorporating folksong motives into sonorities created by sequential chords. While critics detected pessimistic moods and themes in the later symphonies, ascribing a shift to a darker vision to the composer's alleged general pessimism about the world, Vaughan Williams refused to attach any programmatic content to these works. However, the composer created a convincing musical description of a desolate world in his Symphony No. 7 "Sinfonia Antarctica" (1952), which was inspired by the request to write the music for the film Scott of the Antarctic. In addition to his symphonies, Vaughan Williams composed highly acclaimed religious music, as well as works inspired by English spiritual literature, culminating in his 1951 opera The Pilgrim's Progress, based on the spiritual classic by John Bunyan. An artist of extraordinary creative energy, Vaughan Williams continued composing with undiminished powers until his death at 87. Read less

Featured Ralph Vaughan Williams CDs & DVDs:

Elgar: Enigma Variations; The Wasps; Vaughan Williams: Greensleeves / Stern, Kansas City Symphony
Elgar: Enigma Variations; The Wasps; Vaughan Williams: Greensleeves / Stern, Kansas City Symphony
Release Date: 01/08/2013   Label: Reference Recordings  
Catalog: 129   Number of Discs: 1
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Vaughan Williams, Barber, Grainger, Fauré / Slatkin, St Louis So
Vaughan Williams, Barber, Grainger, Fauré / Slatkin, St Louis So
Release Date: 10/25/1990   Label: Telarc  
Catalog: 80059   Number of Discs: 1
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Gurney: Ludlow And Teme; Vaughan Williams / Thompson, Et Al
Gurney: Ludlow And Teme; Vaughan Williams / Thompson, Et Al
Release Date: 01/11/2005   Label: Helios  
Catalog: 55187   Number of Discs: 1
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Vaughan Williams: Complete EMI Recordings / Boult
Vaughan Williams: Complete EMI Recordings / Boult
Release Date: 03/26/2013   Label: Emi Classics  
Catalog: 035672   Number of Discs: 13
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Vaughan Williams: Toward The Unknown Region, Etc / Best
Vaughan Williams: Toward The Unknown Region, Etc / Best
Release Date: 02/01/1994   Label: Hyperion  
Catalog: 66655   Number of Discs: 1
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Work: The lark ascending

Browse 1-25 of 100 Available Recordings
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  • 1.
    Vaughan Williams: Complete EMI Recordings / Boult
    Vaughan Williams: Complete EMI Recordings / Boult
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 035672 Release Date: 03/26/2013   Number of Discs: 13
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer:  Sheila Armstrong,  John Carol Case,  Norma Burrowes,  Hugh Bean  ... 
    Conductor:  Sir Adrian Boult
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  London Philharmonic Orchestra,  London Philharmonic Choir,  New Philharmonia Orchestra  ... 
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  • 2.
    EMI Eminence - The Original Jacket Collection [50-CD Set]
    EMI Eminence - The Original Jacket Collection [50-CD Set]
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 393872 Release Date: 02/26/2013   Number of Discs: 50
    Composer:  Richard Wagner,  Richard Strauss,  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  William Byrd  ... 
    Performer:  David Nolan,  Jonathan Small,  George Malcolm,  William Bennett  ... 
    Conductor:  Karl Anton Rickenbacher,  Vernon Handley,  George Guest,  George Malcolm  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  London Philharmonic Orchestra,  Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra,  Cambridge St. John's College Choir  ... 
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  • 3.
    Arcadia Lost
    Arcadia Lost
    Label: Melba   Catalog: 301131 Release Date: 08/14/2012   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Benjamin Britten
    Performer:  Michael Dauth,  Steve Davislim
    Conductor:  Mark Wigglesworth
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Sydney Symphony Orchestra,  Cantillation,  Hamer String Quartet
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  • 4.
    100 Best British Classics
    100 Best British Classics
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 27315 Release Date: 05/22/2012   Number of Discs: 6
    Composer:  George Frideric Handel,  Thomas Tallis,  John Goss,  Charles Villiers Stanford  ... 
    Performer:  Jacqueline Du Pré,  Hugh Bean,  Gerald Moore,  Dame Janet Baker  ... 
    Conductor:  Stephen Cleobury,  Sir Philip Ledger,  Sir David Willcocks,  Sir Adrian Boult  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Academy of Ancient Music,  Cambridge King's College Choir,  Academy of St. Martin in the Fields  ... 
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  • 5.
    50 Best British Classics
    50 Best British Classics
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 27359 Release Date: 05/22/2012   Number of Discs: 3
    Composer:  George Frideric Handel,  Thomas Tallis,  John Goss,  Charles Villiers Stanford  ... 
    Performer:  Thomas Williamson,  Stephen Cleobury,  Sir David Willcocks,  Benjamin Bayl  ... 
    Conductor:  Stephen Cleobury,  Sir Philip Ledger,  Sir David Willcocks,  Sir John Barbirolli  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Academy of Ancient Music,  Wallace Collection (Brass Ensemble)
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  • 6.
    Classic Fm Hall Of Fame 2012
    Label: Decca   Catalog: CFMD23 Release Date: 04/17/2012   Number of Discs: 3
    Composer:  George Frideric Handel,  Sergei Rachmaninov,  Sir Edward Elgar,  Max Bruch  ... 
    Performer:  Simon Preston,  Vladimir Ashkenazy,  Kyung-Wha Chung,  José Carreras  ... 
    Conductor:  Trevor Pinnock,  André Previn,  Sir Charles Mackerras,  Rudolf Kempe  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  English Concert
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  • 7.
    The Lark Ascending
    The Lark Ascending
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 80526 Release Date: 04/03/2012   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Sir Edward Elgar,  George Butterworth,  Frederick Delius  ... 
    Conductor:  André Previn,  Sir John Barbirolli,  Neville Dilkes,  Sir Neville Marriner  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Allegri String Quartet
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  • 8.
    Arcadia Lost: Music Of Vaughan Williams And Britten
    Label: Melba   Catalog: MR301131 Release Date: 02/14/2012   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Benjamin Britten
    Performer:  Michael Dauth,  Roger Benedict,  Steve Davislim,  Benjamin Martin
    Conductor:  Mark Wigglesworth
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  • 9.
    English Classics
    English Classics
    Label: Hallé   Catalog: 7532 Release Date: 11/08/2011   Number of Discs: 4
    Composer:  George Butterworth,  Frederick Delius,  Percy Grainger,  Traditional  ... 
    Performer:  James Gilchrist,  Joseph Taylor,  Lyn Fletcher
    Conductor:  Mark Elder,  John Wilson
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  • 10.
    Made In Britain / James Clark, John Wilson, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
    Made In Britain / James Clark, John Wilson, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
    Label: Avie   Catalog: 2194 Release Date: 11/08/2011   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Arnold Bax,  George Butterworth,  Frederick Delius,  Sir Edward Elgar  ... 
    Performer:  James Clark
    Conductor:  John Wilson
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
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  • 11.
    Icon: Vernon Handley - Champion Of British Music
    Icon: Vernon Handley - Champion Of British Music
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 98202 Release Date: 10/11/2011   Number of Discs: 5
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Sir Edward Elgar,  Sir Arthur Bliss,  Sir William Walton  ... 
    Performer:  Nigel Kennedy,  Tasmin Little
    Conductor:  Vernon Handley
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  London Philharmonic Orchestra,  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,  Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra  ... 
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  • 12.
    Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On Greensleeves; Oboe Concerto; The Lark Ascending; Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis
    Vaughan Williams: Fantasia On Greensleeves; Oboe Concerto; The Lark Ascending; Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis
    Label: Collins Classics   Catalog: 4 Release Date: 06/14/2011   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer:  Julia Girdwood
    Conductor:  Robert Haydon Clark
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Consort of London
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  • 13.
    Poeme - Chausson, Respighi, Suk, Vaughan Williams / Julia Fischer
    Poeme - Chausson, Respighi, Suk, Vaughan Williams / Julia Fischer
    Label: Decca   Catalog: 001553502 Release Date: 05/03/2011   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ottorino Respighi,  Josef Suk,  Ernest Chausson,  Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer:  Julia Fischer
    Conductor:  Yakov Kreizberg
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra
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  • 14.
    Best Of Nigel Kennedy
    Best Of Nigel Kennedy
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 31514 Release Date: 11/09/2010   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Antonio Vivaldi,  Johann Sebastian Bach,  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Johannes Brahms  ... 
    Performer:  Nigel Kennedy
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  • 15.
    Best Of British - The Nation's Favourite Classical Music
    Best Of British - The Nation's Favourite Classical Music
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 31600 Release Date: 09/28/2010   Number of Discs: 3
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Gustav Holst,  Sir Edward Elgar,  George Frideric Handel  ... 
    Performer:  David Nolan,  Robert Cohen,  Paul Beniston,  Mair Jones  ... 
    Conductor:  Vernon Handley,  Simon Rattle,  Norman Del Mar,  Sir Charles Mackerras  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Virtuosi of England
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  • 16.
    Classic Originals: Pieces In The Original Style, Vol. 2
    Label: Decca   Catalog: 4782589 Release Date: 08/23/2010   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Camille Saint-Saëns,  Sir Edward Elgar,  Edvard Grieg,  Johann Sebastian Bach  ... 
    Performer:  Pascal Rogé,  Cristina Ortiz,  András Schiff,  Iona Brown  ... 
    Conductor:  Charles Dutoit,  Herbert Blomstedt,  Sir Neville Marriner,  Patrick Summers  ... 
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  • 17.
    Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia; Greensleeves; The Lark Ascending
    Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia; Greensleeves; The Lark Ascending
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 27910 Release Date: 08/10/2010   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer:  Sarah Chang,  Christopher Balmer,  Ian Partridge,  David Willison  ... 
    Conductor:  Sir John Barbirolli,  Vernon Handley,  Bernard Haitink,  Sir David Willcocks  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  London Early Music Group
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  • 18.
    English Fantasia
    Label: Sony   Catalog: 88697707282 Release Date: 07/27/2010   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams,  Frederick Delius,  Sir Edward Elgar
    Performer:  Pauline Lowbury
    Conductor:  Nicholas Cleobury
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  • 19.
    Classical Meditation
    Classical Meditation
    Label: Naxos   Catalog: 8570364-65 Release Date: 05/25/2010   Number of Discs: 2
    Composer:  Alla Pavlova,  Peter Sculthorpe,  Einojuhani Rautavaara,  Sir Arthur Bliss  ... 
    Performer:  William Barton,  Michael Cox,  Nicholas Daniel,  David Greed  ... 
    Conductor:  Vladimir Fedoseyev,  James Judd,  Hannu Lintu,  David Lloyd-Jones  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Moscow Radio/TV Symphony Orchestra,  New Zealand Symphony Orchestra,  Royal Scottish National Orchestra  ... 
    CD: $16.99
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  • 20.
    Simon Rattle - British Music
    Simon Rattle - British Music
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 97588 Release Date: 10/20/2009   Number of Discs: 11
    Composer:  Mark-Anthony Turnage,  Nicholas Maw,  Thomas Adčs,  Percy Aldridge Grainger  ... 
    Performer:  Julian Bream,  Thomas Allen,  Robert Tear,  Thomas Hampson  ... 
    Conductor:  Simon Rattle
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,  Birmingham Contemporary Music Group,  City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus  ... 
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  • 21.
    Healing: Music To Soothe The Mind And Body
    Healing: Music To Soothe The Mind And Body
    Label: Decca   Catalog: 001294002 Release Date: 08/25/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Claude Debussy,  Camille Saint-Saëns,  Johann Sebastian Bach,  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  ... 
    Performer:  Claudio Arrau,  Heinrich Schiff,  Samuel Sanders,  András Schiff  ... 
    Conductor:  Sir Neville Marriner,  Richard Bonynge,  James Judd,  Karl Münchinger  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,  National Philharmonic Orchestra,  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  ... 
    CD: $9.99
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  • 22.
    100 Best 20th Century Classics
    100 Best 20th Century Classics
    Label: Emi Classics   Catalog: 64249 Release Date: 07/28/2009   Number of Discs: 6
    Composer:  György Ligeti,  John Adams,  George Gershwin,  Aaron Copland  ... 
    Performer:  Wayne Marshall,  Ralph Kirshbaum,  Tasmin Little,  Simon Haram  ... 
    Conductor:  None,  Simon Rattle,  Leonard Slatkin,  Christopher Warren-Green  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Artemis String Quartet,  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,  St. Louis Symphony Orchestra  ... 
    CD: $21.99
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  • 23.
    Ultimate Classical Dreams - The Essential Masterpieces
    Ultimate Classical Dreams - The Essential Masterpieces
    Label: Decca   Catalog: 001280302 Release Date: 04/21/2009   Number of Discs: 5
    Composer:  Gabriel Fauré,  Joaquin Rodrigo,  Samuel Barber,  Claude Debussy  ... 
    Performer:  Marisa Robles,  Jack Brymer,  Vladimir Ashkenazy,  Dame Kiri Te Kanawa  ... 
    Conductor:  Charles Dutoit,  David Zinman,  Frederick Fennell,  Sir Neville Marriner  ... 
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Montreal Symphony Orchestra,  Philharmonia Orchestra,  Baltimore Symphony Orchestra  ... 
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  • 24.
    Tomita Live At Linz, 1984 - The Mind Of The Universe
    Tomita Live At Linz, 1984 - The Mind Of The Universe
    Label: Rca Victor Red Seal   Catalog: RD85461 Release Date: 03/17/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Sergei Prokofiev,  Gustav Holst,  John T. Williams,  Richard Wagner  ... 
    Performer:  Mariko Senju,  William Ingle,  Riccardo Lombardi,  Birgit Greiner  ... 
    Conductor:  Isao Tomita
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Plasma Symphony Orchestra,  Linz State Theatre Chorus
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  • 25.
    Vaughan Williams: Wasps, Lark Ascending / Seaman
    Vaughan Williams: Wasps, Lark Ascending / Seaman
    Label: Royal Philharmonic Masterworks   Catalog: 28360 Release Date: 03/10/2009   Number of Discs: 1
    Composer:  Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer:  Jonathan Carney
    Conductor:  Christopher Seaman
    Orchestra/Ensemble:  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
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