THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

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

March 26 [1944]

Dear Adrian

Thank you & your orchestra very much for a fine performance – the clearest I have ever heard – and absolved me from my self-criticism of being an incompetent muddler.
My only criticism is that the middle & end of the passacaglia were rather slow (that was partly my fault because I said at rehearsal it was too quick first time – the moral for me is “let well alone”) but perhaps even that made for clarity for those hearing it first time.¹
Yrs

RVW

1. Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra had broadcast a performance of the Fifth Symphony, for which VW had attended a rehearsal at Bedford on 22nd March.