Biography
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872 – 1958) was an English composer, conductor and arranger.
He was born in Down Ampney, a small village in the SW. England. His father was a priest who died when he was 3 years old, their mother took the children to her parents' home. An aunt first taught him piano from the age of 6 and later he started violin and music lessons by correspondence from the University of Edinburgh passing the relevant exams. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and then continued his musical studies in Berlin and Paris. He studied the famous composers of his time as well as English folk song.
In 1910 he wrote a work for string orchestra that was a great success and became one of his best-known pieces: the Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis using a theme by the 16th-century composer Tallis.
Williams emerged as one of the most important composers of the first half of the 20th century; his works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal music and orchestral compositions, including nine symphonies, all in a creative period that lasted for over fifty years. His music marked the shift in British music from the German-dominated style that had prevailed during the 19th century. He is considered today as one of the founders of the English music school.