List of compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Operas

• Hugh the Drover, or Love in the Stocks. Romantic ballad opera in 2 acts, with libretto by Harold Child
• *A Cotswold Romance, Cantata for tenor, soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, adapted from Hugh the Drover by M. Jackson
• Sir John in Love. Opera in 4 acts, based on The Merry Wives of Windsor by Shakespeare with interpolations from other authors.
• *In Windsor Forest, Cantata for chorus and orchestra, adapted from Sir John in Love
• *Fantasia on "Greensleeves" for strings and harp, adapted from Sir John in Love by Ralph Greaves in 1934;
• The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer. Romantic Extravaganza in 3 acts, with libretto by Evelyn Sharp
• Riders to the Sea, from the play by J. M. Synge
• The Pilgrim's Progress. Morality in Prologue, 4 acts and Epilogue, based on John Bunyan's allegory
• *The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. Libretto: Ralph Vaughan Williams
• *"Seven Songs from The Pilgrim's Progress" for voice and piano
• *"The 23rd Psalm" for soprano and chorus, arranged by John Churchill
• *Pilgrim's Journey, Cantata for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus and orchestra adapted from The Pilgrim's Progress by Christopher Morris and Roy Douglas
• Thomas the Rhymer, Opera in 3 acts to libretto by Ursula Vaughan Williams, based on traditional ballads Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin. Uncompleted.

  Incidental music

• The Wasps : to Aristophanes's play The Wasps, Overture and 17 items
• * Aristophanic Suite for orchestra
• The Bacchae : to Euripides's tragedy
• The Death of Tintagiles : to Maurice Maeterlinck's 1894 play
• Incidental music to Shakespeare's plays : The Merry Wives of Windsor; Richard II, Henry IV Part 2, Richard III, Henry V
• The First Nowell : nativity play adapted from medieval pageants by Simona Pakenham; score completed by Roy Douglas

  Ballets

• Old King Cole for orchestra and optional chorus
• On Christmas Night : masque adapted from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• * The Voice out of the Whirlwind, Motet for mixed choir and organ or orchestra; adapted from "Galliard of the Sons of the Morning" from Job
• The Running Set : Traditional Dance Tunes for orchestra
• The Bridal Day : masque founded on Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser
• *Revised as Epithalamion, Cantata for baritone, chorus and small orchestra

  Orchestral

• Symphonies
• *A Sea Symphony
• *A London Symphony
• *A Pastoral Symphony
• *Symphony in F minor
• *Symphony No. 5 in D major
• *Symphony No. 6 in E minor
• *Sinfonia antartica
• *Symphony No. 8 in D minor
• *Symphony No. 9 in E minor
• Serenade in A minor
• Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue
• Bucolic Suite
• Burley Heath, impression for orchestra
• The Solent, impression for orchestra
• In the Fen Country, for orchestra
• Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1, for orchestra
• Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2, for orchestra
• Harnham Down, impression for orchestra
• Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
• Fantasia on "Greensleeves"
• Two Hymn Tune Preludes for small orchestra: 1. Eventide; 2. Dominus regit me
• Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for strings and harp
• Partita for Double String Orchestra, rewritten from Double Trio for string sextet with new finale
• Concerto Grosso, for three groups of strings, each requiring different levels of technical skill
• Flourish for Glorious John

  Concerti

• Fantasia for piano and orchestra
• The Lark Ascending for violin and orchestra
• Concerto Accademico for violin and string orchestra
• Flos Campi for viola, wordless chorus, and small orchestra
• Piano Concerto in C major
• *Arranged as Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Joseph Cooper in collaboration with the composer
• Fantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes for cello and orchestra; withdrawn by the composer
• Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra
• Sketches for Cello Concerto ; incomplete
• *2nd movement completed by David Matthews as Dark Pastoral
• Oboe Concerto in A minor, for oboe and strings
• Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
• Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune for piano, chorus, and orchestra
• Romance in D-flat major for harmonica and orchestra
• Tuba Concerto in F minor

  Choral

• Three Elizabethan Songs , partsongs for chorus 1. Sweet Day 2. The Willow Song 3. O Mistress Mine
• The Garden of Proserpine, cantata for soprano, chorus & orchestra, setting of Algernon Charles Swinburne
• A Cambridge Mass, Missa brevis for SATB, double chorus & orchestra ; Doctoral exercise, first performed 3 March 2011.
• Willow-Wood, Cantata for baritone, women's chorus and orchestra, setting texts by Rossetti from The House of Life
• Toward the Unknown Region, song for chorus and orchestra, setting of Walt Whitman
• The truth sent from above arranged for Unaccompanied Chorus
• Five Mystical Songs for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, settings of George Herbert
• Fantasia on Christmas Carols for baritone, chorus, and orchestra
• Five English Folk Songs freely arranged for Unaccompanied Chorus
• O clap your hands, motet for chorus and orchestra, text from Psalm 47
• "Ca' the yowes" for tenor and chorus, a setting of the folk song by Isabel Pagan/Robert Burns
• Mass in G minor for unaccompanied choir
• Sancta Civitas oratorio, text mainly from the Book of Revelation
• Te Deum in G major
• Benedicite for soprano, chorus, and orchestra
• Three Choral Hymns
• Magnificat for contralto, women's chorus, and orchestra
• Five Tudor Portraits for contralto, baritone, chorus, and orchestra
• Dona nobis pacem, text by Walt Whitman and other sources
• Festival Te Deum for chorus and orchestra or organ
• Serenade to Music for sixteen solo voices and orchestra, a setting of Shakespeare, dedicated to Sir Henry Wood on the occasion of his Jubilee
• "Six Choral Songs To Be Sung In Time Of War"
• A Song of Thanksgiving for narrator, soprano solo, children's chorus, mixed chorus, and orchestra
• An Oxford Elegy for narrator, mixed chorus, and small orchestra
• Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, Cantata for women's voices with orchestra or piano.
• *Suite for small orchestra from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, arranged by Roy Douglas
• Three Shakespeare Songs for SATB unaccompanied, composed for The British Federation of Music Festivals National Competitive Festival
• The Sons of Light, Cantata for chorus and orchestra; text by Ursula Vaughan Williams
• *Sun, Moon and Stars, Cycle of four songs from The Sons of Light with strings or piano
• O Taste and See, a motet setting of Psalm 34:8. The original SATB version was composed for the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in June 1953.
• Hodie, a Christmas cantata
• A Choral Flourish for unaccompanied SATB chorus, composed for a large choral event in the Royal Albert Hall at the invitation of Alan Kirby
• O How Amiable arrangement of a hymn for chorus and organ, originally written for the Abinger Pageant
• Nine Carols for Male Voices arrangements made during the Second World War at the request of the British Council for performance by H.M. Forces in Iceland.

  Hymn tunes and carols

• Original hymn tunes included in The English Hymnal
• * "Come Down, O Love Divine": entitled Down Ampney in honour of Vaughan Williams's birthplace
• * "God Be With You Till We Meet Again"
• * "Hail Thee, Festival day"
• * "For All the Saints"
• Original hymn tunes included in Songs of Praise
• * "Saviour, again to Thy dear name"
• * "The night is come like to the day"
• * "Servants of God"
• * "England Arise! the long, long night is over"
• * "At the Name of Jesus"
• Original tunes included in Oxford Book of Carols
• * The Golden Carol
• * Wither's Rocking Hymn
• * Snow in the Street
• * Blake's Cradle Song
• Extra original hymn tunes included in the enlarged edition of Songs of Praise
• * "Into the woods my master went"
• * "Servants of the great adventure"
• * "I vow to thee my country"
• * "Let us now praise famous men"
• * "Fierce raised the tempest"

  Vocal

• To daffodils, song, setting text by Herrick
• Dirge for Fidele, duet, setting text by Shakespeare from Cymbeline, published 1922
• Rondel, song, setting text by Swinburne
• "How can the tree but wither", song, setting text by Thomas, Lord Vaux
• Claribel, song, setting text by Tennyson
• Linden Lea, song ; from the William Barnes poem “My Orcha’d in Lindèn Lea”
• Rest, for SSATB unaccompanied
• Blackmwore by the Stour, song ; from the William Barnes poem “Blackmwore Maïdens”
• Boy Johnny, song, setting text by Christina Rossetti
• "If I were a Queen", duet, setting text by Christina Rossetti
• "When I am dead, my dearest", song, setting text by Christina Rossetti
• "Tears, idle tears", song, setting text by Tennyson
• "The splendour falls", song, setting text by Tennyson
• The Winter's Willow, song ; from the William Barnes poem of the same name
• Adieu, duet, translated from German by Arthur Foxton Ferguson
• "Think of Me", duet, translated from German by Arthur Foxton Ferguson
• "Orpheus with his lute", song, setting text by Shakespeare
• The House of Life, six sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti : 1. Lovesight; 2. Silent noon; 3. Love's minstrels; 4. Heart's haven; 5. Death-in-Love; 6. Love's last gift
• Songs of Travel, song cycle for baritone and piano, setting texts by R. L. Stevenson
• *"Whither Must I Wander", song
• * Songs 1 3 8 arranged for baritone and orchestra
• *"I have trod the upward and the downward slope" was added to the original eight songs in 1960, after the composer's death
• * Songs 2 4 5 6 7 9 arranged for baritone & orchestra by Roy Douglas
• Dreamland, song, setting text by Christina Rossetti
• The Sky Above The Roof, song, setting translation by Mabel Dearmer of Paul Verlaine poem 'Le ciel est pardessus le toit'
• On Wenlock Edge, song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet, setting texts by
• Four Hymns: for tenor and piano with viola obbligato
• Merciless Beauty three rondels for tenor, two violins and cello
• Four Poems by Fredegond Shove: for baritone and piano : 1. Motion and Stillness; 2. Four Nights; 3. The New Ghost; 4. The Water Mill
• Two Poems by Seumas O'Sullivan : 1. The Twilight People; 2. A Piper;
• Three Songs from Shakespeare : 1. Take, O take those lips away; 2. When icicles hang by the wall; 3. Orpheus with his lute
• Three Poems by Walt Whitman for baritone and piano : 1. Nocturne; 2. A Clear Midnight; 3. Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
• Two Vocal Duets, for soprano, baritone and violin with piano, setting texts by Walt Whitman
• Along the Field, for tenor and violin, setting texts by A. E. Housman
• In the Spring, song ; from the William Barnes poem of the same name
• Ten Blake Songs, song cycle for high voice and oboe, written for film The Vision of William Blake
• Four Last Songs to poems of Ursula Vaughan Williams: 1. Procris; 2. Tired; 3. Hands, Eyes and Heart; 4. Menelaus
• 3 Vocalises for soprano and clarinet

  Chamber

• String Quartet in C minor
• Quintet in D major for clarinet, horn, violin, cello, and piano
• Piano Quintet in C minor for violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano
• Scherzo for string quintet
• Nocturne & Scherzo for string quintet
• String Quartet No. 1 in G minor
• Phantasy Quintet for 2 violins, 2 violas, and cello
• Suite de Ballet for flute and piano
• Romance and Pastorale for violin and piano
• Romance for viola and piano
• Six Studies in English Folk Song, for cello and piano
• Double Trio for string sextet : withdrawn and revised as Partita for Double String Orchestra
• Suite for Pipes
• Household Music: Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes for string quartet or other instruments : 1. Fantasia, Crug-y-bar; 2. Scherzo, St. Denio; 3. Variation, Aberystwyth
• String Quartet No. 2 in A minor
• Sonata in A minor for violin and piano

  Keyboard

• Pezzo Ostinato for piano
• Three Preludes for Organ founded on Welsh hymn tunes ; 1. Bryn Calfaria, 2. Rhosymedre, 3. Hyfrydol
• * No. 2 & No. 3 arranged for orchestra by Arnold Foster
• * Arranged for two pianos by Leslie Russell
• Suite of Six Short Pieces for piano
• * Arranged for string orchestra by James Brown in collaboration with the composer as The Charterhouse Suite
• Prelude and Fugue in C minor for organ
• * Version for orchestra
• Hymn Tune Prelude on 'Song 13' by Orlando Gibbons for piano
• *Arranged for string orchestra by Helen Glatz
• Six Teaching Pieces for piano
• A Wedding Tune for Ann for organ
• A Winter Piece for piano
• Introduction and Fugue for two pianos
• The Old One Hundredth Psalm Tune, harmonisation and arrangement
• Two Organ Preludes founded on Welsh Folk Songs : 1. Romanza, The White Rock; 2. Toccata, St. David's Day

  Film scores

• 49th Parallel, 1940, his first, talked into it by Muir Mathieson to assuage his guilt at being able to do nothing for the war effort
• *Song The New Commonwealth adapted from Prelude to 49th Parallel, words by Harold Child
• *The Lake in the Mountains for piano, based on episode from 49th Parallel
• *Prelude to 49th Parallel for orchestra, published 1960
• Coastal Command, 1942
• The People's Land, 1943
• The Flemish Farm, 1943
• *Suite The Story of a Flemish Farm in 7 movements
• Stricken Peninsula, 1945
• The Loves of Joanna Godden, 1946
• Scott of the Antarctic, 1948
• *Partially reused for his Sinfonia antartica
• The Dim Little Island, 1949
• Bitter Springs, 1950
• The England of Elizabeth, 1955
• *Three Portraits from The England of Elizabeth: concert suite adapted by Muir Mathieson
• *Two Shakespeare Sketches from The England of Elizabeth adapted by Muir Mathieson

  Scores for radio

• BBC adaptation by Edward Sackville-West of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, 1942
• * Some of this music was later used in the Morality Play The Pilgrim's Progress
• Richard II ; not used
• Incidental music to BBC production of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, 1951
• *Prelude on an Old Carol Tune was adapted from this incidental music

  Band

• Rhosymedre for concert band
• English Folk Songs, Suite for military band
• * Arranged for brass band by Gordon Jacob
• *Arranged for orchestra by Gordon Jacob
• *Arranged for piano by Michael Mullinar
• Sea Songs, Quick march for military and brass bands
• * Arranged by composer for orchestra
• Toccata Marziale for military band
• Overture: Henry V for brass band
• Flourish for Wind Band
• Prelude on Three Welsh Hymn Tunes for brass band : 1. Ebenezer; 2. Calfaria; 3. Hyfrydol
• Variations for brass band
• * Arranged for orchestra by Gordon Jacob