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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

BBC Philharmonic

Composer of the Week: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Episode 1: A local man - Gloucestershire

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Episode 1

Episode 1: A local man - Gloucestershire

A local man - Gloucestershire

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), A local man - Gloucestershire

A national composer with a local focus. Today, the county of his birth.

Ralph Vaughan Williams only lived in Gloucestershire as an infant, but the county was always important to him. Donald Macleod looks at how one place framed the events of his life.

Ralph Vaughan Williams was a composer with a self-consciously national voice, who nonetheless believed passionately in the importance of localism. Indeed, he saw healthy music-making in each community as the ultimate source of national musical vitality, and longed for a time when every major town in Britain would have its own orchestra. His respect for folk music and well-known use of traditional melodies reflected a strong response to places, and the people he met there. This week, Donald examines five key locations which were significant throughout the composer's life.

Although he was born in Gloucestershire, Vaughan Williams only lived there for a few years and barely remembered his infancy in Down Ampney. Nevertheless it continued to be a significant locus for him throughout his life, particularly due to his close relationship with the Three Choirs Festival. Several important works were written for or inspired by the county and Cathedral, including his ground-breaking Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Down Ampney (Come down, O love divine) 
Worcester Cathedral Choir and Worcester Festival Chorus
Donald Hunt, conductor
Paul Trepte, organ

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Rodney Friend, violin
Russell Gilbert, violin
John Chambers, viola
Alexander Cameron, cello
Adrian Boult, conductor

Magnificat 
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, contralto
Duke Dobing, flute
Roger Judd, organ
Corydon Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Matthew Best, conductor

The Lark Ascending
Tasmin Little, violin
BBC Philharmonic
Andrew Davis, conductor.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Series presented by Donald Macleod on the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Five-part series presented by Donald Macleod on the life and work of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

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Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Episode 1: A local man - Gloucestershire

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