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 Editor of The Times
Letter No. VWL5074
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times
Letter No.: VWL5074
The White Gates,
Dorking.
[Tuesday, 31 March 1936]
Sir,
In a notice in The Times of a speech made by me at the Musicians Club dinner on March 24 I am reported as saying that “English music was not appreciated by the average Englishman as it should be.” This supposed saying of mine is quoted in the article on “English Tastes” in your issue of March 28. I hope that I have never been and shall never be guilty of making in public this time-dishonoured complaint. What I did say was that the average Englishman hated English music; that this fact pointed to something wrong, either with the average Englishman or with the music or with the general situation.
I am, &c.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
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General Notes:
Printed in The Times newspaper, Tuesday, 31 March 1936, headed “English Music”.
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Citation:The Times (no.47337), Tuesday, March 31, 1936, p.12.
