Ralph Vaughan Williams succeeded Elgar as the leading English composer of his time. After a period of comparative neglect in the 1960s, his music is returning to worldwide popularity, and numerous CD recordings of his works are appearing. This book, much expanded, revised, and brought up todate, takes account of much new work on his life and music, and presents Vaughan Williams as essentially part of the great post-Romantic reaction led by such composers as Debussy and Stravinsky. Day attempts to show how his experiences in the First World War, as well as the circumstances of hislife, intellectual and musical environment, and education helped him to create an oeuvre that is not only self-consistent, but extremely wide-ranging, with a depth, power, and intensity that are often overlooked by those interested in trends and fashions.