Ralph Vaughan Williams

Late Romantic · 1872–1958

Ralph Vaughan Williams built a distinctly English music from the ground up. Born in the Gloucestershire village of Down Ampney in 1872, he spent years in the early 1900s traveling the English countryside with a notebook, writing down folk songs from farm laborers and villagers before the tunes died with their singers. Those melodies, along with the church music of Tudor England, shaped everything he wrote. In his thirties he also spent three months in Paris studying with Ravel, who helped him lighten his orchestral touch.

He was past forty when World War I began, and he enlisted anyway, serving as an ambulance orderly in France. He kept composing into his eighties, completing nine symphonies before his death in 1958.

Start with The Lark Ascending, a violin floating birdlike over a hushed orchestra, then the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, which sets two string orchestras answering each other like voices in a cathedral.

161 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.

Chamber

2 Pieces for Violin and Piano
6 Studies in English Folk Song, for cello and piano
Household Music: Preludes on 3 Welsh Hymn Tunes, for string quartet
Phantasy Quintet for 2 violins, 2 violas, and cello
Piano Quintet in C minor
Quintet in C minor for Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass and Piano
Quintet in D major, for Clarinet, Horn and Piano Trio
Romance for Viola and Piano
String Quartet no. 1 in G minor
String Quartet no. 2 in A minor, "For Jean on Her Birthday"
Violin Sonata in A minor

Keyboard

6 Short Pieces, for piano
6 Teaching Pieces, for piano
Hymn tune Prelude on Song 13 by Orlando Gibbons
Prelude and Fugue, for organ in C minor
Preludes on 3 Welsh Hymn tunes, for organ

Orchestral

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, for 2 string orchestras
Oboe Concerto in A minor
Piano Concerto in C
Symphony no. 1, for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, "A Sea Symphony"
Symphony no. 3, for soprano or tenor and orchestra, "Pastoral"
Symphony no. 5 in D
Symphony no. 6 in E minor
The Lark Ascending: Romance for Violin and Orchestra
2 Hymn-Tune Preludes, for small orchestra
5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus, for string orchestra and harp
49th Parallel
Coastal Command Film score
Concerto grosso for Strings in 3 Groups
Dim Little Island Film score
English Folk Song Suite, for military band
Fantasia, for piano and orchestra
Fantasia on Greensleeves, for harp, flute and strings
Flos Campi, suite for viola, small chorus and small orchestra
Flourish for Glorious John
Flourish for Wind Band, overture to a pageant for military band
Henry V, concert overture for brass band
In the Fen Country
Norfolk Rhapsody no. 1 in E minor
Norfolk Rhapsody no. 2 in D minor
Partita for Double String Orchestra
Romance in D flat major for Harmonica, Strings, and Piano
Scott of the Antarctic Film score
Sea Songs, march for military or brass band
Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra
Symphony no. 2 in G, "A London Symphony"
Symphony no. 4 in F minor
Symphony no. 7, "Sinfonia Antartica" For narrator, soprano, female choir and orchestra
Symphony no. 8 in D minor
Symphony no. 9 in E minor
The Death of Tintagiles Incidental music
The England of Elizabeth Film score
The Loves of Joanna Godden Film score
The Poisoned Kiss
The Running Set, fantasia on jig-rhythms
The Story of a Flemish Farm Suite from the film score
The Wasps, Aristophanic Suite
Toccata Marziale, for military band in B flat major
Tuba Concerto in F minor
Variations for Brass Band
Violin Concerto in D minor, "Concerto accademico"

Stage

Hugh the Drover, or Love in the Stocks Opera
Job, A Masque for Dancing Ballet
On Christmas Night Ballet
Riders to the Sea Opera
Sir John in Love Opera
The Pilgrim's Progress Opera
The Poisoned Kiss Opera
The Wasps, incidental music for tenor, baritone, male chorus and orchestra

Vocal

Serenade to Music For 16 soloists and orchestra<
'Tis Winter Now, the Fallen Snow, "Danby"
2 English Folksongs, for voice and violin
3 Choral Hymns for baritone or tenor, chorus and orchestra
3 Poems by Walt Whitman
3 Shakespeare Songs
3 Vocalises for Soprano and Clarinet
4 Hymns, for tenor, viola and strings
4 Last Songs
4 Poems by Fredegond Shove
5 English Folksongs, for chorus
5 Mystical Songs, for baritone, chorus ad lib and orchestra
5 Tudor Portraits, choral suite for soloists, chorus and orchestra
6 English Folksongs, for voice and piano
8 Traditional English Carols
9 Carols, for baritone and male chorus
10 Blake Songs, for voice and oboe
A Choral Flourish, for chorus and organ or 2 trumpets
A Cradle Song, for voice and piano
All Hail The Power, for unison chorus, chorus and organ
Along the Field, song cycle for voice and violin
An Oxford Elegy, for narrator, small chorus and small orchestra
A Song of Thanksgiving for soprano, speaker, chorus and orchestra
At the Name of Jesus, "King's Weston"
A Vision of Aeroplanes, for chorus and organ
Behold the Great Creator Makes, "This Endris Nyght"
Benedicite, for soprano, chorus and orchestra
Blackmwore by the Stour, folk song for voice and piano
Bushes and briars, folk song for male chorus
Ca' the yowes, folk song for tenor and chorus
Choral Songs to be Sung in Time of War, for chorus and piano or orchestra
Christ, the Fair Glory
Come Down, O Love Divine, "Down Ampney"
Dirge for Fidele, song for 2 mezzo-sopranos and piano
Dona nobis pacem, cantata for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra
Down in Yon Forest
Fantasia on Christmas Carols, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra
Father We Praise Thee
Festival Te Deum, for chorus and organ
Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, cantata for female chorus and orchestra
For All the Saints Who from Their Labours Rest, "Sine nomine"
Gloucestershire Wassail, "Wassail, wassail, all over the town"
God Be with You Till We Meet Again, "Randolph"
God that madest earth and heaven, "Ar Hyd Y Nos"
Greensleeves, folk song for chorus
Hail Thee, Festival Day!, "Salve festa dies"
He Who Would Valiant Be, "Monks Gate"
Hodie, Christmas cantata for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' chorus, chorus and orchestra
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, "Kingsfold"
In the Spring
It Was a Lover and His Lass, partsong for female chorus
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, for chorus and piano
Linden Lea, for voice and orchestra, "A Dorset Song"
Loch Lomond, folk song for baritone and male chorus
Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge
Lord god, you now have set your servant free
Love Is a Sickness, song for chorus
Mass in G minor
Nocturne, for baritone and orchestra, "Whispers of Heavenly Death"
Nothing is Here for Tears, song for chorus and piano or organ or orchestra
O Clap Your Hands, for chorus, brass and organ
O God of earth and altar, "King's Lynn"
O How Amiable, anthem for chorus and organ
O Mistress Mine, partsong for chorus
On Wenlock Edge, for tenor, piano and string quartet Song cycle
Orpheus with his Lute
O Taste and See, for chorus and organ
O Vos Omnes, for alto and chorus, "Is it Nothing to You?"
Prayer to the Father of Heaven, for chorus
Sancta Civitas Oratorio
Silence and Music, song for chorus
Snow In The Street
Songs of Travel Song cycle
Te Deum for chorus and organ in G
The Basket of Eggs, for voice and piano
The Great Forerunner of the Morn
The House of Life Song cycle
The King of Love My Shepherd Is, "St. Columba"
The Old 100th Psalm: All People That on Earth do Dwell, for chorus, unison chorus, orchestra, and organ
The Pilgrim Pavement, for soprano, chorus and organ
The Sons of Light, cantata for chorus and orchestra
The Souls of the Righteous, motet for soprano, tenor, baritone and chorus
The Splendour Falls Song
The Turtle Dove, folk song for baritone and chorus
The Unquiet Grave, folk song for female chorus, "How Cold the Wind Doth Blow"
The Voice out of the Whirlwind, for chorus and organ or orchestra
The Winter's Willow, for voice and piano
The Winter is Gone, for choir
Valiant for Truth, for chorus
Willow-wood, cantata for baritone or mezzo-soprano, female chorus and orchestra
Wither's Rocking Hymn
Wither's Rocking Hymn, "Sweet baby, sleep! What ails my dear?"

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