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
A Sea Symphony d | \times 2/3 { cis b a } b8. a16 a4. } \addlyrics { And on its lim- it- less, heav- ing breast } </score> The impact of "A Sea Symphony" manifests itself not only in the life of the composer (his first symphony and first work of such an immense scale), but also in the newfound support and appreciation of the English symphony and 20th century English music in general. Hugh Ottaway's book, "Vaughan Williams Symphonies" presents the following observation in its introduction: In the "Grove" article on Vaughan Williams, Ottaway and Frogley call the work: Ursula Vaughan