Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was a composer from England. Over sixty years, he composed operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and sacred vocal pieces, and symphonic compositions, including nine symphonies. His production, heavily influenced by Tudor music and English folk song, marked a significant break in British music from the 19th century's German-dominated style. Vaughan Williams grew up in a well-to-do family with strong moral values and active social life. He aimed to help his fellow citizens throughout his life and believed in making music as accessible as possible to everybody. He composed several works for amateur and student performers. His studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel from 1907–1908 helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Teutonic influences. He was a late developer artistically, not establishing his authentic voice until his late thirties.

Vaughan Williams is one of the most well-known British symphonists, known for a broad spectrum of moods ranging from stormy and passionate to serene, mysterious, and triumphant. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1910) are two of his other concert compositions that are well-known (1914). In addition, hymns, folk song adaptations, and large-scale choral works are among his vocal works. Between 1919 and 1951, he composed eight pieces for the theatre. Even though none of his operas became standard repertoire, his ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) was a hit and produced numerous times. In Vaughan Williams' personal life, two occurrences left a lasting mark. The First World War, in which he participated in the army, left an indelible impression. He was re-energized by a love connection with a much younger woman, who later became his second wife, twenty years later, despite being in his sixties and happily married. He continued to compose far into his eighties, finishing his final symphony just months before his death at 85. All of his major compositions and many of his minor ones have been recorded, and his works have remained a mainstay of the British concert repertoire.