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Pivotal English composer, conductor, and folk song collector, renowned for reviving and defining a distinctly English orchestral and choral sound in the 20th century. Born into privilege, Vaughan Williams studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College, Cambridge. He became a leading figure in the English musical renaissance, profoundly influenced by Tudor music and English folk songs, which he extensively collected. His studies with Maurice Ravel refined his orchestration. Service in World War I impacted him deeply. He composed prolifically across genres, producing nine symphonies, operas, film scores, and beloved works like 'The Lark Ascending' and 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'. A teacher, conductor, and editor of The English Hymnal, he championed music for all. He died suddenly in 1958.

• His first great love, Adeline Fisher, initially married his close friend and fellow composer Gustav Holst's brother instead; Vaughan Williams later married Adeline himself in 1897.
• Served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WWI, driving ambulances in France and Salonika. This harrowing experience profoundly influenced works like his Symphony No. 3 ('Pastoral').
• His 40-year marriage to Adeline was marked by her long, debilitating illness (arthritis). After her death in 1951, he married his literary collaborator, Ursula Wood, in 1953, when he was 80 and she was 40.
• Died suddenly of a heart attack in the early hours of 26 August 1958, just after completing a morning's work on his edition of the hymn tune for the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven.