Editing Ralph Vaughan Williams (section)

===1939–1952===
During the Second World War Vaughan Williams was active in civilian war work, chairing the [[Home Office]] Committee for the Release of Interned Alien Musicians, helping [[Myra Hess]] with the organisation of the daily [[National Gallery]] concerts, serving on a committee for refugees from Nazi oppression, and on the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), the forerunner of the [[Arts Council of Great Britain|Arts Council]].<ref name=chron/> In 1940 he composed his first film score, for the propaganda film ''[[49th Parallel (film)|49th Parallel]]''.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/1326412486 "When is an Opera not an Opera? When it could be a Film"], ''Musical Opinion'', January 2013, p. 136 {{subscription}}</ref>

In 1942 Michael Wood died suddenly of heart failure. At Adeline's behest the widowed Ursula was invited to stay with the Vaughan Williamses in Dorking, and thereafter was a regular visitor there, sometimes staying for weeks at a time. The critic Michael White suggests that Adeline "appears, in the most amicable way, to have adopted Ursula as her successor".<ref name=white>White, Michael. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:DST1&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F35A23D68CE9F99&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "The merry widow"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818040429/http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Fiw.newsbank.com%3AUKNB%3ADST1&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=0F35A23D68CE9F99&svc_dat=InfoWeb%3Aaggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA |date=18 August 2021 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 4 May 2002</ref> Ursula recorded that during air raids all three slept in the same room in adjacent beds, holding hands for comfort.<ref name=white/>

[[File:Pilgrim's Progress.jpg|alt=Title page of 17th-century printed book showing engraving of the author|thumb|''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''&nbsp;– inspiration to Vaughan Williams across forty-five years]]
In 1943 Vaughan Williams conducted the premiere of his Fifth Symphony at the [[the Proms|Proms]]. Its serene tone contrasted with the stormy Fourth, and led some commentators to think it a symphonic valediction. [[William Glock]] wrote that it was "like the work of a distinguished poet who has nothing very new to say, but says it in exquisitely flowing language".<ref>Glock, William. "Music", ''The Observer'', 18 July 1943, p. 2</ref> The music Vaughan Williams wrote for the BBC to celebrate the end of the war, ''Thanksgiving for Victory'', was marked by what the critic [[Edward Lockspeiser]] called the composer's characteristic avoidance of "any suggestion of rhetorical pompousness".<ref>Lockspeiser, Edward. "Thanksgiving for Victory, for Soprano Solo, Speaker, Chorus and Orchestra by R. Vaughan Williams", ''[[Music & Letters]]'', October 1945, p. 243 {{JSTOR|728048}} {{subscription}}</ref> Any suspicion that the septuagenarian composer had settled into benign tranquillity was dispelled by his [[Symphony No. 6 (Vaughan Williams)|Sixth Symphony]] (1948), described by the critic Gwyn Parry-Jones as "one of the most disturbing musical statements of the 20th century", opening with a "primal scream, plunging the listener immediately into a world of aggression and impending chaos."<ref>Parry-Jones, Gwyn. [http://www.rvwsociety.com/journal_pdfs/rvw_journal_03.pdf "The Inner and Outer Worlds of RVW"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313113058/http://www.rvwsociety.com/journal_pdfs/rvw_journal_03.pdf |date=13 March 2012 }}, ''Journal of the RVW Society'', July 1995</ref> Coming as it did near the start of the [[Cold War]], many critics thought its ''pianissimo'' last movement a depiction of a nuclear-scorched wasteland.<ref>Horton, p. 210; and Kennedy (1980) pp. 301–302</ref> The composer was dismissive of programmatic theories: "It never seems to occur to people that a man might just want to write a piece of music."<ref name=k302>Kennedy (1980), p. 302</ref>

In 1951 Adeline died, aged eighty.<ref>"Obituary", ''The Times'', 12 May 1951, p. 8</ref> In the same year Vaughan Williams's last opera, ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress (opera)|The Pilgrim's Progress]]'', was staged at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] as part of the [[Festival of Britain]]. He had been working intermittently on a musical treatment of [[John Bunyan]]'s allegory for forty-five years, and the 1951 "morality" was the final result. The reviews were respectful,<ref>"The Royal Opera", ''The Times'', 27 April 1951, p. 8; Hope-Wallace, Philip. "''The Pilgrim's Progress'': New Work by Vaughan Williams", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 27 April 1951, p. 3; and Blom, Eric. "Progress and Arrival", ''The Observer'', 29 April 1951, p. 6</ref> but the work did not catch the opera-going public's imagination, and the Royal Opera House's production was "insultingly half-hearted" according to Frogley.<ref name=dnb/> The piece was revived the following year, but was still not a great success. Vaughan Williams commented to Ursula, "They don't like it, they won't like it, they don't want an opera with no heroine and no love duets—and I don't care, it's what I meant, and there it is."<ref>Hayes, Malcolm. [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:UKNB:TND1&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=132048A0E4A18870&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA "Progress at last"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817205602/http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Fiw.newsbank.com%3AUKNB%3ATND1&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=132048A0E4A18870&svc_dat=InfoWeb%3Aaggregated5&req_dat=102CDD40F14C6BDA |date=17 August 2021 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', 31 October 1997</ref>