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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
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(1872–1958) Composer with a distinctively English quality, resulting from a double enthusiasm – for music of the Tudor period and for English folk songs, of which he was an avid collector. The former inspired one of his best-known pieces, the *Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910). He wrote nine very varied symphonies: the first (A Sea Symphony 1909) is a setting for soloists and chorus of poems by Walt Whitman; the second (A London Symphony 1914) echoes sounds from the life of the city; and the seventh (Sinfonia Antartica 1953) is based on the score which he wrote for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic.
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Among his many songs, the cycle On Wenlock Edge (1909) is outstanding, setting six poems from Housman's A Shropshire Lad. His romance for violin and orchestra, The *Lark Ascending, is a firmly established concert favourite.
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