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
Symphony No. 5 (Vaughan Williams) was fashionable among British composers; Arnold Bax and William Walton had already written symphonies of Sibelian influence. The ascription originally read "Dedicated without permission and with the sincerest flattery to Jean Sibelius, whose great example is worthy of all imitation." When the work was published it was shortened to read "Dedicated without permission to Jean Sibelius". Sir Adrian Boult subsequently secured permission. Sibelius wrote: "I heard Dr. Ralph Vaughan Williams' new Symphony in Stockholm under the excellent leadership of Malcolm Sargent...This Symphony is a marvellous work ... the dedication made me feel proud and grateful...I wonder if Dr. Williams has