Ralph Vaughan Williams
<p><strong>Ralph Vaughan Williams</strong> <span class="nobold noexcerpt nowraplinks"><a class="mw-redirect" title="Member of the Order of Merit" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_the_Order_of_Merit">OM</a></span> (<span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a title="Help:IPA/English" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English">/<span title="/ˌ/: secondary stress follows">ˌ</span><span title="'r' in 'rye'">r</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span><span title="'f' in 'find'">f</span><span class="wrap"> </span><span title="'v' in 'vie'">v</span><span title="/ɔː/: 'au' in 'fraud'">ɔː</span><span title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span><span class="wrap"> </span><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'w' in 'wind'">w</span><span title="/ɪ/: 'i' in 'kit'">ɪ</span><span title="'l' in 'lie'">l</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span><span title="'m' in 'my'">m</span><span title="'z' in 'zoom'">z</span>/</a></span> <span class="ext-phonos"><span id="ooui-php-1" class="noexcerpt ext-phonos-PhonosButton ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel oo-ui-widget oo-ui-widget-enabled oo-ui-buttonElement oo-ui-buttonElement-frameless oo-ui-iconElement oo-ui-buttonWidget" data-nosnippet="" data-ooui="{"_":"mw.Phonos.PhonosButton","href":"\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/transcoded\/d\/d3\/Pronunciation-of-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams.ogg\/Pronunciation-of-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams.ogg.mp3","rel":["nofollow"],"framed":false,"icon":"volumeUp","data":{"ipa":"","text":"","lang":"en","wikibase":"","file":"Pronunciation-of-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams.ogg"},"classes":["noexcerpt","ext-phonos-PhonosButton","ext-phonos-PhonosButton-emptylabel"]}"></span><sup class="ext-phonos-attribution noexcerpt navigation-not-searchable"><a title="File:Pronunciation-of-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams.ogg" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pronunciation-of-Ralph-Vaughan-Williams.ogg">ⓘ</a></sup></span></span> <a title="Help:Pronunciation respelling key" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key"><em title="English pronunciation respelling">RAYF vawn WIL-yəmz</em></a>;<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>n 1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> 12 October 1872<span class="nowrap"> </span>– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by <a class="mw-redirect" title="Tudor music" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_music">Tudor music</a> and <a class="mw-redirect" title="English folk-song" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_folk-song">English folk-song</a>, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its <a class="mw-redirect" title="German classical music" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_classical_music">German-dominated style</a> of the 19th century.</p> <p>Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social outlook. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer <a title="Maurice Ravel" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel">Maurice Ravel</a> helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from <a title="Music of Germany" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Germany">Teutonic influences</a>.</p> <p>Vaughan Williams is among the best-known British symphonists, noted for his very wide range of moods, from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. Among the most familiar of his other concert works are <em><a title="Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_on_a_Theme_by_Thomas_Tallis">Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis</a></em> (1910) and <em><a title="The Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lark_Ascending_(Vaughan_Williams)">The Lark Ascending</a></em> (1914). His vocal works include hymns, folk-song arrangements and large-scale choral pieces. He wrote eight works for stage performance between 1919 and 1951. Although none of his operas became popular repertoire pieces, his ballet <em><a title="Job: A Masque for Dancing" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Masque_for_Dancing">Job: A Masque for Dancing</a></em> (1930) was successful and has been frequently staged.</p> <p>Two episodes made notably deep impressions in Vaughan Williams's personal life. The <a title="World War I" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I">First World War</a>, in which he served in the army, had a lasting emotional impact. Twenty years later, though in his sixties and devotedly married, he was reinvigorated by a love affair with a much younger woman, who later became his second wife. He went on composing through his 70s and 80s, producing his last symphony months before his death at the age of 85. His works have continued to be a staple of the British concert repertoire, and all his major compositions and many of the minor ones have been recorded.</p>