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Lead book review

Vaughan Williams’s genius is now beyond dispute

Ralph Vaughan Williams’s towering position in our national life is now beyond dispute – and can only grow, says Simon Heffer

24 September 2022

9:00 AM

24 September 2022

9:00 AM

Vaughan Williams Eric Saylor

OUP, pp.336, 22.99

The Captain’s Apprentice: Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Story of a Folk Song Caroline Davison

Chatto & Windus, pp.400, 20

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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