65 years ago today, the foremost English composer of his time, and one of the great composers of the 20th century, Ralph Vaughan Williams was interred in Westminster Abbey. He was the first commoner to be so honored in almost 300 years – since the death of Henry Purcell, in fact.

Rightly or wrongly, England’s musical reputation had taken a nosedive in the interim (the country’s cultural standing was derided in Germany as “Das Land ohne Musik”), with most of its musical luminaries imports (especially Handel and Mendelssohn), until the nation reclaimed its own with Sir Edward Elgar and his contemporaries around the turn of the 20th century. But Vaughan Williams did more than anyone for the development of an English national sound. What’s more, he was deeply committed to making music with and for his compatriots. He had a generous heart, and by all accounts he was a kind man. It was near Purcell, in Westminster’s north choir aisle, that his ashes were laid to rest.

Vaughan Williams requested that two of his works be included in the service: his anthem “O taste and see” and his setting of the hymn “All people that on earth do dwell” (OLD 100TH), both written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – which took place at the Abbey five years earlier, in 1953. Vaughan Williams’ hymn “Come down, o love divine” (DOWN AMPNEY) accompanied his funeral procession. The composer’s great champion, Sir Adrian Boult, conducted “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus” and selections from “Job,” along with Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, for a commemoration, held immediately prior to the funeral service.

The funeral was broadcast live on the BBC. Here’s a very brief extract:

And a copy of the complete program:

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/media/12534/ralph-vaughan-williams-funeral-1958.pdf

Vaughan Williams remains, alas, one of the most underappreciated of the great composers. His body of work, for anyone who cares to look beyond the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” and “The Lark Ascending,” is stunning. The most common image we hold is of a rustic artist who perfected slovenly chic. Yet he was perhaps unsuspectedly cosmopolitan, uncommonly energetic, and uncannily productive. In reading Eric Saylor’s recent biography of the composer (“Ralph Vaughan Williams,” Oxford University Press, 2022), I was astounded to realize that, once he found his mature voice, he basically churned out one masterpiece after another, in quick succession, for decades. Alas, outside the UK, it’s as if Vaughan Williams sleeps undisturbed with all his treasures in the Valley of the Kings. Mark my words, someday they will be rediscovered!

“O taste and see,” at Elizabeth II’s funeral in 2022

“All people that on earth do dwell,” at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012