THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Dorking, Surrey.

8th September, 1950.

Dear Barter

I see you are doing my “104th” tune¹ on November 25th.  You do not mention the name of the pianoforte soloist.  I hope it is going to be Michael Mullinar for whom it was written and who plays it magnificently.²
I had hoped to see you at Gloucester, but if you were there I missed you.  It was a very delightful Festival.³
Yrs

R. Vaughan Williams

Arnold Barter, Esq.,

1. Fantasia (Quasi Variazione) on the “Old 104th” Psalm tune for Piano, chorus and orchestra, Catalogue of Works 1949/3.
2. VW got his wish: Michael Mullinar did  play the piano for the concert in Central Hall, Bristol. Serenade to Music was also performed.
3. The festival had included the first performances of Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality and Howells’s Hymnus Paradisi – see Anthony Boden, Three Choirs: a history of the festival (Stroud, 1992), p.192.