Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in England on October 12 1872. He died in England on August 26, 1958.
He was an organist at one London’s churches and wrote songs for symphonies, operas, ballets, orchestral music, chamber music, film music, and church use. They can be found in many places.
He collected folk songs and wrote nine symphonies from 1907 to 1958. He was a conductor of London’s Bach choir.
He found his way into the hymnbook because a hymnbook committee asked him to edit the music of a new hymnal in 1904. Unfortunately, he drew on his collection of folk music and secular tunes to do much of the work, and those he could not find music for, he wrote his own music. The project was expected to take two months, but instead it took two years, and he presented a large bill for the work.
The hymns he wrote music for include:
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Sources
Unknown book, #6, p. 356.
K.W. Osbeck. 101 More Hymn Stories (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1985). Page 90, 92.
William J. Reynolds, Companion to Baptist Hymnal. (Nashville, Tennessee, Broadman Press, 1976) page 449 & 341
Encyclopaedia Britannica (Chicago, William Benton, Publisher, 1961) Vol. 25
