ABOUT THE LETTERS
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s correspondence - with his friends, family, pupils and fellow musicians - paints an intriguing portrait of the man, as well as providing fascinating insights into his major preoccupations: musical, personal and political.
The VWF database includes transcripts of over 5,000 items of annotated correspondence, fully indexed and searchable, which can all be read online. It includes all the letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams known to the editors and is an ongoing project. Find out more about the database.
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Featured Letter
from Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872-1958 to Karpeles, Maud, 1885-1976
Letter No. VWL4806
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles
Letter No.: VWL4806
13 Cheyne Walk
SW3
[1929]
Dear Maud
I was so glad to get your letter – & know you are having a little rest tho’ ever more rather adverse circumstances. I have little to report; I worked steadily for about 8 weeks – & then spasmodically for 2 & then back to London – large quantity but poor quality I fear.
I wonder what sort of time you are having in U.S.A. – it wd be very good if we cd really get it to spread in America1 – though I suppose the only people who wd take it up wd be the “Portuguese & the Argentines & the Armenians and the Greeks”2
Have a good time when your work is over & don’t stay away from us too long
Yrs
RVW
1. Karpeles was actually in Newfoundland, not the USA, to collect folksongs, from 1929-1930.
2. The song “The Argentines, the Portuguese and the Greeks” was popular in the 1920s and first recorded in 1920.
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Date assumed to relate to Karpeles’ trip to the USA in 1929-1930.
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Shelfmark:MS Mus, 1714/2/3/1, ff. 68-69
