Vaughan Williams and His World

A biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams, published in collaboration with the Bard Music Festival. Ralph Vaughan Williams (18721958) was one of the most innovative and creative figures in twentieth-century music, whose symphonies stand alongside those of Sibelius, Nielsen, Shostakovich, and Roussel. After his death, shifting priorities in the music world led to a period of critical neglect. What could not have been foreseen is that by the second decade of the twenty-first century, a handful of Vaughan Williamss scores would attain immense popularity worldwide. Yet the present renown of these pieces has led to misapprehension about the nature of Vaughan Williamss cultural nationalism and a distorted view of his international cultural and musical significance. Vaughan Williams and His World traces the composers stylistic and aesthetic development in a broadly chronological fashion, reappraising Vaughan Williamss music composed during and after the Second World War and affirming his status as an artist whose leftist political convictions pervaded his life and music. This volume reclaims Vaughan Williamss deeply held progressive ethical and democratic convictions while celebrating his achievements as a composer.