Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) it with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, with the composer present in the Royal Box. Charles Munch conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of the work on 31 October 1957, at Symphony Hall. Ten more performances by the same team followed within three weeks in several cities. Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. It was the first of his symphonies which Vaughan Williams numbered. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the premiere of the piece on 2 May 1956, with the Hallé Orchestra. The
Ursula Vaughan Williams Ursula Vaughan Williams Joan Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams (née Lock; 15 March 1911 – 23 October 2007) was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Born in Valletta, Malta, the daughter of Major-General Sir Robert Lock and his wife Kathleen Beryl Penton, daughter of Arthur Pole Penton CB, CMG, CVO, she began writing poetry in 1921. In 1941, her first published book of poems appeared, "No Other Choice". Her second volume of poetry was "Fall of Leaf", from 1943. In the early 1930s, she was a student at the Old Vic.