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  Timeline 1910-1958 For 1872 Timeline click here
 
1910
'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis' is first performed 6th September, Gloucester Cathedral. His first major success.
Edits 2nd Volume of Purcell's 'Welcome Songs'.
'A Sea Symphony' performed in Leeds – 12 October.
1912
'Phantasy Quintet' is composed.
'Fantasia on Christmas Carols' performed at Hereford.
1914
First performance of 'A London Symphony'.
World War 1 breaks out.
RVW enlists as a private in the RAMC. His friend George Butterworth, 12 years his junior (right) killed in action. "I sometimes dread coming back to life with so many gaps." It was Butterworth who encouraged RVW to write 'A London Symphony'.		 George Butterworth
1916
VW in army uniform

RVW is posted to Wiltshire, then to Ecoivres, North of Arras in France.
Transferred to Salonika.
1917
Commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery.
1918
Serves in France. Becomes Director of Music of the 1st Army BEF France.
1919
Appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music.
Receives honorary doctorate at Oxford.
1921
'The Lark Ascending' is performed in London.
Appointed conductor of the Bach Choir (1920)
1922
The 3rd Symphony – 'A Pastoral Symphony' performed in London. Holst wrote. "It's the very essence of you". The Symphony recalls Ecoivres – a man yearning for his country in time of war.
'The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains' performed at RCM.
'Mass in G Minor' performed in Birmingham.
Visits USA to conduct 'A Pastoral Symphony'.
1923
'Old King Cole' performed.
Conducts his first performance of the 'St Matthew Passion' in Dorking Halls, the performance of which, is a tradition which continues to this day.
1924
'Hugh the Drover' staged at the RCM then by British National Opera Company under Sir Malcolm Sargent.
1925
'Flos Campi' performed London.
'Violin Concerto' performed London.
'Songs of Praise' published.
1926
1927
'Sancta Civitas' performed in Oxford.
'Along the Field' first performed in London.
1928
White Gates RVW's wife Adeline is crippled by Arthritis, so he resigns
from Bach Choir and moves to Dorking where he
becomes a greatly loved and hugely respected citizen.
'Te Deum' performed.
Co-editor with Martin Shaw of 'The Oxford Book of Carols'.
1929

'Sir John in Love' staged at the RCM.
'Fantasy on Sussex Folk Tunes' completed for Pablo Casals. Moves into 'The White Gates' just off the Guildford Road. (right)

1930
'Job' performed at the Norwich Festival.
1931
'Job' staged at the Cambridge Theatre in London.
1932
Gustav Holst Elected President of The English Folk Dance and Song Society.
Lectures on ‘National Music’.
Conducts 'Toward the Unknown Region' in a Welsh mining village."
Conducts with Gustav Holst at Worcester where Host's 'Hymn of Jesus' is performed'. 'The Magnificat' for contralto, womens chorus, and orchestra has its first performance. He told Gustav that he was trying to "get the smugness out of it." VW felt that daily liturgical usage had hidden the emotion of words.
1933
'Piano Concerto' performed in London. Later revised for 2 pianos because it was thought to be too demanding.
1934
'Suite for Viola' performed in London. Gustav Holst dies after operation. Ralph is devastated. His sense of loss is expressed in a letter to Imogen, Holst's daugher, "Whichever way I turn, what are we to do without him – everything seems to have turned back to him – what would Gustav do?" Elgar and Delius also pass away.
1935
Sir Adrian Boult conducts the 'Fourth Symphony' (F minor).
RVW refuses a Knighthood but is made a member of the Order of Merit. RWV here with Boult.		 Boult
1936
'The Poisoned Kiss' performed Cambridge.
'Five Tudor Portraits' performed Norwich.
'Dona Nobis Pacem' performed in Huddersfield.
1937
‘Festival Te Deum’ performd at Coronation of George VI. ‘Riders to the Sea’ staged at RCM.
1938
'Serenade to Music' performed at the Royal Albert Hall in honour of Sir Henry Wood. Moves Rachmaninov to tears.
Begins work on the Fifth Symphony.
Meets the poet and writer Ursula Wood.
1939
'Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus' performed in New York.
1940
Composes first film score 'The 49th Parallel'.
Composes 'Household Music' and 'Six Choral Songs to be sung in time of War' broadcast 20th Dec – BBC broadcast. Starts 'Valiant for Truth'.
1942
Composes film score for 'Coastal Command' and music for BBC adaptation of 'The Pilgrim's Progress'. More film music follows in 1943: 'The People' s Land' and 'The Story of a Flemish Farm'.
1943
World premiere of Symphony in D (no 5) conducted by RVW at the Albert Hall, London 24 June.
Completes 'Valiant for Truth'.
1944
'Oboe Concerto' performed in Liverpool.
String Quartet No 2 'For Jean on her Birthday' performed in London. 'Thanksgiving for Victory' composed. Inherits Leith Hill Place and donates it to the nation – 421 acres of outstanding natural beauty.
1945
Film music for 'Stricken Peninsula' composed.
1946
'Introduction and Fugue' for two pianos composed. Arrangement of his Piano Concerto made for two pianos and performed in London. Music for the film 'The loves of Joanna Godden' composed. Founded the Dorking Bach Choir who sing only 'St John Passion' at St Martin's Church, Dorking.
1947
Performance of 'The Souls of The Righteous' at Westminster Abbey.
1948
An arrangement of the 'Double String Trio', 'Partita for Double String Orchestra' was performed.
Adrian Boult conducts 'The E minor Symphony' (The 6th). First screening of 'Scott of the Antarctic' at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square with music composed by RVW.
1950
'Folk songs of the Four Seasons' performed in London. 'Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune' performed in Gloucester.
'Concerto Grosso' performed in London.
1951
The Pilgrim's Progress staged at Covent Garden and 'The Sons of Light' performed in London.
Begins Work on his Seventh Symphony, the 'Sinfonia Antartica' based on his score for Scott of the Antarctic.
His wife, Adeline (right) dies on the 10th May.		 Adeline
1952
The 'Romance’ for Harmonica, written for Larry Adler is performed in New York.
An 'Oxford Elegy' is performed.
1953
The 'Sinfonia Antartica's first performance is conducted by Barbirolli at Manchester's Free Trade Hall.
RVW marries Ursula Wood (right) at St Pancras Vestry.
The RVWs move from The White Gates in Dorking to 10 Hanover Terrace in London.
Voted by The National Arts Foundation of America, 'the outstanding musician of 1953'.
Ursula Wood
1954
Cornell The 'Tuba Concerto' performed in London. 'Hodie', a Christmas Cantata performed in Worcester.
1955
Visits Cornell, Toronto, Michigan (where he celebrates his 82nd birthday), Indiana, California and Yale where he delivers a series of lectures.
Conducts 'A London Symphony' in Buffalo.
At Yale (above) he receives the 'Howland Memorial Prize'.
Conducts the 'St Matthew' and 'St John Passions' at the Leith Hill Festival. Writes 'Song for a Spring Festival' to words by Ursula. to be sung nowhere else. The song is still sung in Dorking on Festival Day each year.
Writes 'Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes' for the Salvation Army Staff Band in response to an invitation.
While on holiday in Majorca, his friend the composer, Gerald Finzi (right) dies in Oxford.
The first musician to receive The Albert Medal of The Royal Society of Arts.
Cornell lectures published as 'The Making of Music'.
Gerald Finzi
1956
Barbirolli and Ursula Vaughan Williams Sir John Barbirolli conducts the 'Symphony in D minor' (No 8) in Manchester.
'A Vision of Aeroplanes' is performed in London.
1957
'Epithalamion' is performed in London.
Composes a test piece 'Variations' for the National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain.
Completes 'Symphony in E minor' (No 9).
1958
Westminster Abbey 'Symphony in E minor' (No 9) is performed in London.
'Ten Blake Songs' performed in London.
Conducts his last 'St Matthew Passion' in Dorking which is recorded by Christopher Finzi and Noel Taylor.
RVW dies in his sleep at Hanover Terrace on 26th August. He was due to attend a recording of his 9th Symphony the following day. Funeral takes place at Westminster Abbey. His ashes are interred near the grave of Purcell.
In accordance with his wishes, Bach's 'Fugue in E flat' and Maurice Green's 'Lord, let me know mine end' are included in the service as well as a representation of his own work.


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© RVW Society. RVW Society is a registered charity no 1017175.
The author would like to thank all concerned who have contributed material to this timeline. Special thanks go to:
Ursula Vaughan Williams, Michael Kennedy, James Day, Gerald Northrop Moore, Oxford University Press.

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