Vaughan Williams served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WWI and played a significant role in reviving the English folk song tradition. Notable works include 'Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis' and 'Fantasia on Greensleeves', with the former being premiered at Gloucester Cathedral. He died in 1958 shortly before a recording of his Symphony No. 9, which was conducted as a tribute.

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10 things you didn’t
know about…
Vaughan
Williams

2. Vaughan Williams served as a wagon
orderly in the Royal Army Medical
Corps during the First World War, driving
ambulances in France and, later, Greece.
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The hymn tune ‘Down Ampney’
is named after the village in
which he was born.

4. The English folk song tradition
was brought back from the brink,
largely thanks to his efforts in
travelling throughout the
countryside, transcribing
songs from locals.www.colstonhall.org/classical

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For three months in 1908,
Vaughan Williams went to Paris
to study orchestration with
Maurice Ravel.
They became
close friends.

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Vaughan Williams is the editor of the
1906 edition of the English Hymnal and
was inspired to write the Fantasia on a
theme of Thomas Tallis on discovering his
Third Mode Melody hymn tune.

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Composers Ivor Gurney & Herbert Howells
were at the premiere of the Fantasia on
a theme of Thomas Tallis at Gloucester
Cathedral. They were so enthralled, they
spent the rest of the evening pacing the
streets of Gloucester, deep in excited
conversation.

8. Fellow composer Peter Warlock
commented that the Symphony No. 3
(the ‘Pastoral’) sounded like a ‘cow
looking over a gate’
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...although the work
is linked to Vaughan
Williams’s memories
of serving in the
First World War.

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Another of Vaughan Williams’s
famous works, his Fantasia on
Greensleeves, was originally
written as part of his 1928 opera,
Sir John in Love.

10. Vaughan Williams died in
August 1958, days before a
recording of his Symphony
No. 9. The recording,
conducted by Adrian
Boult, went ahead as
a memorial to the
composer.
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Vaughan
Williams second
wife, Ursula, died
only in 2007. She
was a noted
poet and a
biographer of
the composer.

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