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Donald Macleod explores the late 1940s and early 50s as Adeline’s arthritis becomes increasingly worse, and Vaughan Williams - now in his mid-70s - begins to feel his age.

This month, Donald Macleod takes a new look at one of Britain’s best loved composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, as part of Radio 3's 'Vaughan Williams Today' season - marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Over the course of four weeks and twenty programmes, Donald will be delving into Vaughan Williams's life story and work in intriguing detail, and he’ll also be talking to some of the leading authorities on Vaughan Williams to share and explore fresh perspectives on a variety of overlooked and less well known aspects of his life and work, forming a comprehensive and absorbing portrait of a composer whose body of work has had such an enduring impact on British cultural life.

In this, the final week of Composer of the Week’s landmark series, Donald will focus primarily on the years 1948-1958, the final decade of Vaughan Williams’s life. The composer was, by this point recognised as the Grand Old Man of English music, and for a younger generation of British composers had begun to represent the establishment. He was also beginning to feel his age but was still managing to surprise critics with some of his new works, and he showed little sign of slowing down, continuing to lead a busy life, and launching into new endeavours too: foreign travels which included a major tour of the US, a major house move, and, following the death of Adeline, a second marriage. Donald will also be speaking to Vaughan Williams experts Ceri Owen and Alain Frogley about Adeline Fisher and Ursula Wood, Vaughan Williams’s two wives, and about Vaughan Williams’s legacy, and the changing reception to his music since his death.

In Monday’s programme, Donald explores the late 40s and early 50s as Adeline’s arthritis becomes increasingly worse, and Vaughan Williams – now in his mid-70s - begins to suffer from a series of aches and pains, and sees his first real concert hall failure.

Symphony no. 6 in E minor - I. Allegro
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Manze, conductor

Prayer to the Father of Heaven
Worcester Cathedral Choir
Christopher Robinson, director

An Oxford Elegy (excerpt)
Simon Callow, narrator
Tenebrae
Aurora Orchestra
Nigel Short, conductor

Concerto Grosso for strings
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
James Judd, conductor

Pilgrim’s Progress - House Beautiful
John Noble, baritone (The Pilgrim)
Sheila Armstrong, soprano; Marie Hayward, soprano; Gloria Jennings, mezzo-soprano (Three Shining Ones)
Ian Partridge, tenor (Interpreter)
London Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor

Producer: Sam Phillips