Ralph Vaughan Williams was an influential English composer, born on October 12, 1872, in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire. He was a pivotal figure in reviving British music, drawing inspiration from English folk songs and Tudor polyphony. Educated at Charterhouse School, the Royal College of Music, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied under Charles Stanford and Hubert Parry and later with Max Bruch and Maurice Ravel. His early career involved collecting folk songs and editing The English Hymnal, for which he composed enduring hymn tunes.

During World War I, Vaughan Williams served as a wagon orderly and later as an officer in the Royal Garrison Artillery, experiences that profoundly impacted his music. His compositions include nine symphonies, operas, ballets, chamber music, and notable orchestral works like "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" and "The Lark Ascending." Despite his atheistic youth, he settled into agnosticism and was influenced by literary figures such as Shakespeare and Whitman.

Vaughan Williams married twice, first to Adeline Fisher in 1897 and then to poet Ursula Wood in 1953. He declined a knighthood but accepted the Order of Merit in 1935. He passed away on August 26, 1958, with his ashes interred in Westminster Abbey. His legacy endures in the British concert repertoire, with his works remaining a staple and continually recorded.