Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams established new nationalist style based on English folk traditions * Studied at Cambridge with Wood and at Royal College of Music with Parry and Stanford * In 1895 established lifelong friendship with Gustav Holst * Further studies with Bruch in Berlin (1897) and Ravel in Paris (1908) * Progressively rejected foreign Romantic influences in favour of inspiration from native material, including Elizabethan and Jacobean music and English folksongs, of which he collected over 800 * Personal voice emerged fully in 1909 with On Wenlock Edge * Works include 9 symphonies and 4 operas * Strong believer in music as vital part of everyday life * Active with amateur music-making, conducting, composing for choirs, brass bands and film * As a teacher, pupils included Gordon Jacob and Elizabeth Maconchy * Music often modal and contrapuntal, with delicate French orchestration
Works by Ralph Vaughan Williams include:
Songs of Travel (1901-04) for voice and piano or orchestra
On Wenlock Edge (1908-09) for tenor and piano, piano quintet or orchestra
Four Hymns (1914) for tenor, solo viola and strings
English Folksong Suite (1923) orchestrated by Gordon Jacob