In 1904 the agnostic Vaughan Williams set about introducing folk song into The English Hymnal. This revolutionary hymn book was the brainchild of Percy Dearmer, who wanted to rid the Anglican church of turgid 19th-century hymn tunes.

After the project had been concluded, Vaughan Williams admitted that his work on The English Hymnal had been ‘a better musical education than any amount of sonatas and fugues’.

It was melodies that Vaughan Williams discovered in the preparation of The English Hymnal that inspired the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), Dives & Lazarus (1939), and passages of the opera The Pilgrim’s Progress (1951).

Jeremy Summerly will present a talk From Hedgerow to Pew, focusing on more of the fascinating story of Vaughan Williams and The English Hymnal.

Professor Jeremy Summerly lecturer