Ralph Vaughan Williams

Prelude

Ralph Vaughan Williams (Down Ampney, Gloucestershire,1872-1958) was a British composer, organist and conductor. He is often regarded as a key figure in English musical nationalism (along with Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius). Some musicologists place him in a broader, cosmopolitan tradition with Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, among others; the latter was one of his teachers. We can safely say that Vaughan Williams is one of England's most important composers. Vaughan Williams' oeuvre is multifaceted; he felt at home in all musical genres, including concert band and brass band. Prelude '49th Parallel' is the opening credits from the 1941 black and white film by the same title (also known as 'The Invaders'). It is a British war film in which a German submarine enters Canadian territorial waters. After they have landed and their boat has been torpedoed, some German crew members are forced to go inland with the ultimate goal of reaching the United States, which was then still neutral. The film was in some ways meant to convince the U.S. to enter the war by warning them that their northern border was vulnerable to a possible invasion by the Germans.