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.
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Featured Letter
from Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872-1958 to Warrack, John, b.1928
Letter No. VWL2808
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Warrack (OUP)
Letter No.: VWL2808
From R. Vaughan Williams,
10, Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park,
London, N.W.1.
March 28th 1954.
Dear Mr. Warrack,
Herewith the proofs.1 There are still a few mistakes which I have noted on a slip fastened to the copy. Could you kindly check those yourself, as it will save a lot of time?
Yours sincerely,
R. Vaughan Williams
P.S. I am sorry for the delay in the orchestration of Sun, Moon and Stars,2 I did it all and showed it to Bernard Shore, who said it was all much too difficult, and I had to re-do it. He has now revised it all, and added slurs and bowing marks. Will you ask Alan Frank, in confidence, whether he thinks he ought to have a fee for this? If so, my name must not come into it, and it must be nominally from the firm, though of course I would refund, or have it taken off my royalties in the usual way. By the way, the arrangement is for pianoforte and strings NOT strings without pianoforte. I am sending it under separate cover.
RVW
1. Of This Day (Hodie) (Catalogue of Works1954/3).
2. Sun, Moon, Stars and Man (Catalogue of Works 1950/3a) is a cycle of four songs based on sections of the cantata Sons of Light (Catalogue of Works 1950/3). In fact the first performance was accompanied by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and so the orchestration should not have presented any difficulty – but the work was intended for school use.
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Typewritten, signed.
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Shelfmark:File 2008M
