His style was tonal and often evocative of the English countryside through the use of folk themes. Among his works are the orchestral Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis 1910; the opera Sir John in Love 1929, featuring the Elizabethan song Greensleeves; and nine symphonies 1909-57. He studied at Cambridge, the Royal College of Music, with Max Bruch in Berlin, and Maurice Ravel in Paris. His choral poems include Toward the Unknown Region (Whitman) 1907 and On Wenlock Edge (Housman) 1909, A Sea Symphony 1910, and A London Symphony 1914. Later works include Sinfonia Antartica 1953, developed from his film score for Scott of the Antarctic 1948, and a Ninth Symphony 1958. He also wrote A Pastoral Symphony 1922, sacred music for unaccompanied choir, the ballad opera Hugh the Drover 1924, and the operatic morality play The Pilgrim's Progress 1951.
