Ralph Vaughan Williams after Boult, Sargent and Barbirolli are Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Andrew Davis. Record companies with extensive lists of Vaughan Williams recordings include EMI, Decca, Chandos, Hyperion and Naxos. Vaughan Williams refused a knighthood at least once, and declined the post of Master of the King's Music after Elgar's death. The one state honour he accepted was the Order of Merit in 1935, which confers no prenominal title: he preferred to remain "Dr Vaughan Williams". His academic and musical honours included an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Oxford (1919); the Cobbett medal for
Ernest Williams (conductor) C Minor" in 1937. Also of note are his opera, "Rip Van Winkle", and tone poem, "America" (for chorus and band or orchestra), which stand alongside numerous marches, concerti and solos. In 1931, Ernest Williams was elected to the American Bandmasters Association and, in 1983, he was posthumously installed in the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors. Ernest Williams (conductor) Ernest Williams (27 September 1881 – 8 February 1947) was a prominent American band conductor, cornet soloist, composer, and music educator. A native of Wayne County, Indiana, Ernest Williams' musical career began in 1898 as a