1872 - 1958 Person Name: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1871-1958) Topics: Biblical Names and Places David; Biblical Names and Places Israel; Biblical Names and Places Jerusalem; Church Year Advent; Church Year Lent; Church Year Pentecost; Daily Prayer Midday Prayer; Elements of Worship Gathering; Faith; Freedom; God Trust in; God as Refuge; God's Safety; God's Will; God's Forgiveness; God's Friendship; God's Glory; God's House; God's Judgments; God's Justice; God's law; God's Love; God's Presence; Grace; Gratitude; Healing; Hymns of Praise; Jesus Christ Friend of Sinners; Jesus Christ Incarnation; Love; Occasional Services Dedication / Consecration / Anniversary; Occasional Services Dedication / Consecration / Anniversary; Peace; People of God / Church Family of God; Prayer; Processions; Rejoicing; Rest; Songs of Zion; Temple; Temptation And Trial; The Incarnation; Unity and Fellowship; Unity of the Church; Worship; Year A, Advent, 1st Sunday Arranger of "SUSSEX CAROL " in Psalms for All Seasons Through his composing, conducting, collecting, editing, and teaching, Ralph Vaughan Williams (b. Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England, October 12, 1872; d. Westminster, London, England, August 26, 1958) became the chief figure in the realm of English music and church music in the first half of the twentieth century. His education included instruction at the Royal College of Music in London and Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as additional studies in Berlin and Paris. During World War I he served in the army medical corps in France. Vaughan Williams taught music at the Royal College of Music (1920-1940), conducted the Bach Choir in London (1920-1927), and directed the Leith Hill Music Festival in Dorking (1905-1953). A major influence in his life was the English folk song. A knowledgeable collector of folk songs, he was also a member of the Folksong Society and a supporter of the English Folk Dance Society. Vaughan Williams wrote various articles and books, including National Music (1935), and composed numerous arrangements of folk songs; many of his compositions show the impact of folk rhythms and melodic modes. His original compositions cover nearly all musical genres, from orchestral symphonies and concertos to choral works, from songs to operas, and from chamber music to music for films. Vaughan Williams's church music includes anthems; choral-orchestral works, such as Magnificat (1932), Dona Nobis Pacem (1936), and Hodie (1953); and hymn tune settings for organ. But most important to the history of hymnody, he was music editor of the most influential British hymnal at the beginning of the twentieth century, The English Hymnal (1906), and coeditor (with Martin Shaw) of Songs of Praise (1925, 1931) and the Oxford Book of Carols (1928).
Bert Polman
Ralph Vaughan Williams