Simon Heffer

Vaughan Williams’s genius is now beyond dispute

His towering position as a composer, not only in Britain but internationally, is at last secure, as Eric Saylor’s biography demonstrates

Ralph Vaughan Williams: composer, teacher, philanthropist and folk-song collector. [Getty Images] 
issue 24 September 2022

Classical music plays hell with people’s posthumous reputations, as any admirer of the works of Ralph Vaughan Williams will tell you. In 1972, on the centenary of his birth, ample respects were shown. Not only were there special concerts of his music but the Post Office, which is now more focused on commemorating gay pride, issued a stamp.

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