Composer, born in Boars Hill, Oxfordshire, SC England, UK. A pupil of Nadia Boulanger, his early compositions, the largest of which is the oratorio Jonah (1935), show the influence of his French training. Later works, notably the "Stabat Mater' (1947), the operas Nelson (1953) and Ruth (1956), and the orchestral Windsor Variations (1969) and Voices of the Night (1973), have won him wide recognition for their combination of technical refinement with lyrically emotional appeal. He was knighted in 1974.