Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus

Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus is a work for string orchestra and harp composed in 1939 by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It is based on the English folk song "Dives and Lazarus". According to varying personal recollections, he first heard the song either in 1893 or 1898. He subsequently transcribed several versions of it during his ethnomusicological surveys, one of which he included in The English Hymnal in 1906. He also quoted the melody in the first movement of his English Folk Song Suite in 1923.

The Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus was commissioned by the British Council for the 1939 New York World's Fair's scheduled classical music events at its Hall of Music. A budget deficit from lack of public interest forced a change of venue to Carnegie Hall, where the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult premiered the work on 10 June 1939. In 1949, Vaughan Williams adapted it for his score to a short documentary by Humphrey Jennings. It was played at Vaughan Williams' funeral in 1958.