Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions, including nine symphonies, written over 60 years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his work marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late 30s, when his studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music. His symphonies express a wide range of moods: from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. His other concert works include Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) has been frequently staged. He insisted on the traditional English pronunciation of his first name, "Rafe".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1810:

Juan José Castelli ordered the execution of Santiago de Liniers, during the Argentine War of Independence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Castelli

1928:

At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil action case Donoghue v Stevenson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson

1968:

The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention

2008:

More than a week after a ceasefire was reached in the Russo- Georgian War, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Abkhazia_and_South_Ossetia

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

rakhi: (chiefly South Asia) An ornamental cotton wristband tied by a girl or woman on to the wrist of her brother, or of one who takes on the responsibilities of a brother, particularly during the Raksha Bandhan festival. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rakhi

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

They have planned a life for you — from the cradle to the grave and beyond — which it would be easy, fatally easy, to accept. The least wandering of the attention, the least relaxation of your awareness, and already the eyelids begin to droop, the eyes grow vacant, the body starts to move in obedience to the hypnotist’s command. Wake up, wake up — before you sign that seven-year contract, buy that house you don’t really want, marry that girl you secretly despise. Don’t reach for the whisky, that won’t help you. You’ve got to think, to discriminate, to exercise your own free will and judgment. And you must do this, I repeat, without tension, quite rationally and calmly. For if you give way to fury against the hypnotists, if you smash the radio and tear the newspapers to shreds, you will only rush to the other extreme and fossilize into defiant eccentricity.   --Christopher Isherwood https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood