enjoyed some popularity in their day, their music drew mainly on continental (especially German) models and their music is rarely performed today. The final decades of the nineteenth century saw something of a renaissance of native English music in the figures of Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford and especially Edward Elgar, one of the most famous of all English composers and the most noteworthy of those whose models were primarily continental. Whilst these composers' music, like those of their precursors, drew largely on German models (especially Johannes Brahms), the professionalism and the quality of their output has ensured it a more lasting place in the repertoire. Whilst Elgar was by far the most artistically successful of these composers, the most important from the perspective of the English Pastoral School was Stanford. Whilst Stanford's own music is not normally considered as part of the school, within it can be seen some hints of what was to come: in his incorporation of folk-song elements for example. Of greater significance was his role as a teacher: as a founder of the Royal College of Music as well as teaching music at Cambridge University his many pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, John Ireland and Frank Bridge, whom would go on to form most of the first generation of composers in the pastoral school. First Generation Perhaps the archetypical composer, and the one most closely associated with the style, was Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). Many of the works with which he is most strongly associated, such as the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and The Lark Ascending exhibit the main stylistic influences associated with the school. Vaughan Williams also collected folk songs (much as many composers did in Europe during the period), and arranged some of these such as in his Norfolk Rhapsody. Other key early composers were Vaughan Williams's friend Gustav Holst, John Ireland, and Herbert Howells, all of whom had studied under Stanford at various points. Howells composed a large body of chamber works with strong pastoral elements that immediately place them within the style; such as his third String Quartet subtitled In Gloucestershire. Perhaps Howells' main legacy however was as the key figure in the revival of the English (and particularly the Anglican choral tradition, drawing on Renaissance music in choral music such as his Requiem and Stabat Mater. Gustav Holst is often cited as a