Vaughan Williams wrote 18 original hymn tunes and adapted 37 others, mainly from folk songs. Some of the tunes have been treasured by one generation after another; others are associated with less popular hymns and no so well-known. His hymn tunes, at both extremes, have inspired other composers to write or arrange works based on them. This album explores those arrangements; some of the hymns are also sung as they were written, so that the tunes can become familiar.

The tune ‘Mantegna’ was written for a passion-tide hymn about Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The poem was called ‘The Agony in the Garden’, which is also the name given to Mantegna’s 1455-56 painting (the album’s cover picture). Clearly, Vaughan Williams knew the painting, and named his tune after the artist.

The organist Francis Jackson (1917-2022) was fascinated by the ‘Mantegna’ tune, and wrote a set of orchestral variations on it, called Homage to Vaughan Williams. This is the album's most substantial work. We commissioned another organist, David Briggs, to write an organ Carillon, based on another Vaughan Williams tune, ‘White Gates’.

Other composers and arrangers represented include Percy Whitlock, William H. Harris, Henry Ley, Helen Glatz and Malcolm Riley. We also celebrate, in his quatercentenary year, Orlando Gibbons who, in his turn, inspired Vaughan Williams.