Meet a Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Years Lived: 1872-1958
Period: Late Romantic
Country: England
Ralph
Vaughan Williams was an English composer known for his tuneful music.
He was influential in forming the characteristics that define English
music which was a stark contrast to the German music that was popular
during the time. He wrote nine symphonies, chamber music, vocal pieces, concertos, operas, and ballets.
He
was born in the English countryside and started piano lessons at the age of five, that same year he wrote his first piece of music—a four measure piece for piano. Since he didn't love the piano, he was glad to begin studying violin the following year. Later he studied music at the Royal
College of Music in London. After he completed his collegiate studies,
he went to Berlin and Paris to continue his studies. He
has a special interest in folk music, and incorporated it into many of
his pieces—he even wrote a piece called English Folk Song Suite based
on English Folk Songs.
Vaughan Williams felt it important to be of service to others,
and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody.
Did You Know?
Vaughan Williams wrote 13 concertos including one for harmonica and another for tuba!
Ralph is pronounced Rafe (rhymes with safe) which is the British pronunciation of Ralph. His wife said any that other pronunciation "used to drive him mad."
During World War I Vaughan Williams was accused of writing code and arrested for spying when he was spotted writing some music notes. He was eventually released.
In 1953 he wrote music for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
There is a Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and their website includes this video with pictures from his life shown against a background of music from his Viola Suite.
Read this short bio from Classics For Kids and then listen to this Classics for Kids podcast, including music samples of Vaughan William's music. Did you know the answers to the quiz questions?
This article from Classic FM includes 15 pictures and facts about Vaughan Williams.
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