THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

Dec 3 [1935]

Dear Mr. Koussevitsky
Thank you very much for your kind letter – I am very sorry that I am not to have the honour of a performance of my symphony under your direction. I leave the business side of these things entirely to my agents and have to trust them and I am very sorry that their action has made the performance impossible. You will understand that without knowing the conditions obtaining in another country I am not in a position to dictate to them what terms they should make with your managers and can only repeat that I am extremely sorry that anything has come between my music and your splendid orchestra
Yours sincerely
R Vaughan Williams

1.  Written in response to a letter from Koussevitsky expressing his disappointment that the American agents of Oxford University Press, Carl Fischer, wanted to charge $350 performance rights for VW’s fourth symphony, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra had accordingly decided to withdraw it from their programme.