THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates
Dorking

Jan 3 [?1950]

Dear M^r Byard
I added the extra scene to “Hugh” because in we were told it was too short – that in the provinces they “wanted their moneys worth!”.¹
But it was never a success both dramatically & musically it is poorer & an addition entirely spoils the dramatic effect of the sudden hush at the old beginning of Act II coming straight after the noisy finish of Act I.  So I never want to hear it or see it again!
Yrs ever
R. Vaughan Williams

1.  Hugh the Drover, Catalogue of Works 1924/2.  The request possibly came from the publishers, Curwen. As noted in Michael Kennedy’s Catalogue of Works, Act II Scene 1 was inserted in 1933 for Royal College of Music performances conducted by Beecham on 16 and 17 June (Kennedy incorrectly gives 15 June, but there could well have been a dress rehearsal that day). The Catalogue reports that the scene is marked ‘optional’ in the score – but it is omitted altogether from later printed editions. Kennedy’s introduction to the 1977 edition notes that ‘the curious will find it in the 1959 edition of the vocal score.’