Composer & Musicians of Britain

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Gustav Holst - the modest English composer of "The Planets"

Gustav Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher best known for his orchestral suite "The Planets". Amongst his many other works, he also wrote the melody of the Christmas carol "In the Bleak Midwinter".

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Edward Elgar - 'the typically English composer'

Sir Edward Elgar was an English composer born in 1857, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire, and particularly noted for his capturing of the atmosphere of England in Edwardian times.

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W S Gilbert - librettist of comic opera

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas.

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Ralph Vaughan Williams - capturing the sounds of the English countryside

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer, born in 1872. Much of his music is evocative of the English countryside. His best known and much loved compositions include "The Lark Ascending", "Fantasia on Greensleeves" and "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis". These regularly top public choices of classical music favourites in Britain.

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