Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal compositions, and orchestral works, including nine symphonies written over a period of more than sixty years. Influenced by Tudor music and English folk song, his compositions contributed to the development of a distinctively English style of classical music in the early 20th century. Vaughan Williams was born into a well-to-do family with progressive social views. Throughout his life he expressed a belief that music should be accessible to a wide audience and wrote many works intended for amateur and student performers. His development as a composer was gradual, and he did not establish his mature style until his late thirties. His studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel in 1907–1908 influenced his orchestration and helped him refine the textures of his music. Vaughan Williams is regarded as one of the leading British symphonists. His orchestral works include compositions with a wide range of musical character and atmosphere. Among his best known concert works are "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" (1910) and "The Lark Ascending" (1914). His vocal music includes hymns, arrangements of folk songs, and large-scale choral works. Between 1919 and 1951 he composed eight stage works. Although his operas have not become standard repertoire, his ballet "Job: A Masque for Dancing" (1930) achieved lasting success and has been frequently performed. Two events had a significant influence on Vaughan Williams's life. His service in the British Army during the First World War had a lasting personal impact. About twenty years later he formed a relationship with a younger woman who later became his second wife. Vaughan Williams continued composing into his seventies and eighties and completed his final symphony shortly before his death at the age of 85. His music has remained an important part of the British concert repertoire, and his major works and many of his lesser-known compositions have been widely recorded. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Ralph+Vaughan+Williams">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.