RVW150

Celebrating Ralph Vaughan Williams 150 years after his birth.

In 2022-3 RVW150 celebrated Ralph Vaughan Williams with performances, recordings, new works and imaginative projects around the country (and beyond) to help widen our understanding of this many-faceted composer.

Get a taste of the celebrations with the small selection below.

Whoever thought Vaughan Williams a bit of a pastoral retrograde should hear this (Flos Campi)… it’s mad, bizarre and glorious. 

FIONA MADDOCKS, The Observer

Certain music is necessary at a certain time, and Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony struck me as something we need to hear now. It has this incredible strength and serenity: a feeling of ‘this is what the world could be when we emerge from this’.

SIR SIMON RATTLE, conductor

There’s an emotional honesty to his writing. His language is one which can be appreciated on so many levels.

TASMIN LITTLE, violinist

Thank you so much to this wonderful forward thinking musical organisation without which new music activities in the U.K. would be substantially curtailed.  

DARRAGH MORGAN and MARY DULLEA, Fidelio Trio

RVW150 NEWS

RVW resources for Music Teachers

A new programme produced by the Music Teachers’ Association, has been set up to provide resources for teaching about the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, from Early Years Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 5. Teaching resources are available completely free of charge to all schools and organisations running education projects and can be downloaded from the MTA.

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New window celebrating RVW unveiled

A newly commissioned stained glass window by artist Thomas Denny, celebrating the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in the place of his birth, was unveiled at All Saints, Down Ampney.

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Today’s composers celebrate RVW

Throughout the 150th anniversary celebrations a special series of new works inspired by RVW’s music, ideas, or life, were performed round the country.

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News from the publishers

From the completion of a major unfinished score, to a composer’s cut of the 1948 film of Scott of the Antarctic, together with new editions, collections and orchestrations of well-loved pieces, RVW’s publishers continue to bring his work to new performers and audiences.

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From pub to pulpit

From Pub to Pulpit created different programmes for each venue, bringing to life the musical journey of folk songs RVW collected, and later ‘borrowed’ for hymns

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His music has an emotional honesty

‘A composer who believed that music should be felt, rather than described’

RVW 150 Ambassador, violinist Tasmin Little, on the enduring popularity of RVW’s music.

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#RVW150

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto was first performed in Liverpool in 1944, the scheduled London premiere having been cancelled due to German bombing. The oboeist here 👇 is Robin Canter, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Judd.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Tomorrow! Catch a concert with the Carice Singers, showcasing emerging composers who have spent a week at the Cheltenham Music Festival developing new pieces. The Song Sung True at Spitalfields Music Festival Jul 03, 7:30pm, St Giles Cripplegate, Barbican, London EC2Y. Supported by the VWF.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Vaughan Williams had a distinguished family tree. His maternal grandparents were Josiah Wedgwood III (1795–1880), of the influential Wedgwood pottery family, and Caroline Sarah Darwin (1800–1888), sister of the famous naturalist Charles Darwin.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

The "Norfolk Rhapsody No.1", based on folk songs collected by Vaughan Williams, is performed here by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Bryden Thomson.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Since 2023, the VWF has awarded grants of over £1.2 million for composer projects in the UK and abroad. Find out more, including how to apply for funding, via our website.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Bachtrack explores the creative dialogue between classical music and the visual arts – including Vaughan Williams: Job, a Masque for Dancing. Explore here: bachtrack.com/playlist-top…

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Old UK TV Listings Magazines

03/07/1935 Radio Times: Featuring The Music Of Vaughan Williams; A £3 Holiday In Ulster; The Importance Of Being Earnest; The BBC Military Band; The Children's Hour; Period Pieces and more READ: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/9d7c62c2dd21419d973521acc09b945f?page=46

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Find out more about how to apply for funding via our website.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

📻 Listen to an in-depth discussion between Mark Lowther and BBC Radio 3's Andrew McGregor about the huge range of recorded performances of RVW's 4th Symphony. First performed in 1935, its austerity seems to presage the looming horror of World War II…

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

This Colin's Column article examines Sir Adrian Boult’s final concert appearance – Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia antartica (Symphony No.7) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, October 12, 1977.

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