George Butterworth

Having received his schooling at Eton followed by studies at Trinity College, Oxford, Butterworth initially trained for the legal profession. Encountering Vaughn Williams along with Sharp prompted him to abandon his academic path in favor of musical pursuits. A brief enrollment at the RCM ensued, during which he engaged in both critiquing music and gathering traditional English songs and dances. Such endeavors shaped his compositional approach by incorporating elements of folksong along with occasional direct use of those materials. The 1912 orchestral rhapsody A Shropshire Lad avoids any verbatim quotes yet features melodies characterized by their straightforward and unadorned quality reminiscent of folksong structures.