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.
The text of letters written by Ralph Vaughan Williams remains in the copyright of the Vaughan Williams Foundation and may not be further reproduced without the prior written consent of the Foundation.
Featured Letter
from Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872-1958 to Maconchy, Elizabeth, 1907-1994
Letter No. VWL2173
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Maconchy
Letter No.: VWL2173
The White Gates,
Dorking.
Jan 15 [1951?]
Dearest Betty
(Forgive writing even worse than usual – but the cat is on my lap).
Yes you must do that symph (remember that Beethoven said “It will please one day”[)]
– How about the other symphony – I liked that very much – & the BBC ought to do it again.
I shd love to come & see you one day
All love
Uncle Ralph
1. Maconchy had written a symphony between 1945 and 1948, of which RVW arranged a performance on 27 April 1950 (ex inf JD; it was later withdrawn) (presumably ‘the other symphony’) and wrote another, for double string orchestra, which was finished in 1953.
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