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 Peterkin, Norman, 1886-1982
Letter No. VWL1949
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin
Letter No.: VWL1949
The White Gates
Dec 3 [1944]
Dear Peterkin
Could you kindly send me my original score of my Symphony in D which I think you have? I have to conduct at Guildford on Saturday and that is the score I prefer to use.1
I have heard from Goossens who says the Concerto was a great success – but there are one or two passages that are difficult even for him – but he does not suggest alternatives nor has he sent either you or me the oboe part.2
These alternatives must be put into the oboe part before a copy is made – but there is no reason why the string parts should not be duplicated. Goossens tells me that he wanted to play the work several times in Wales but the parts were not available. I daresay there is some good explanation of th[is].3
I feel that you as “Controller” of the work ought to come to a definite understanding with Goossens as to how many performances he is to be allowed before the work is released for other players.
Yours sincerely
R. Vaughan Williams
1. This score is now MS 4231 in the Royal College of Music. VW conducted the Guildford Symphony Orchestra in the County Technical College Hall on 9 December.
2. VW’s Concerto in A minor for oboe and strings, Catalogue of Works 1944/1, had received its first performance played by Leon Goossens in Liverpool on 30th September.
3. A note dated 4th December 1944 in the OUP file explains that the orchestral material had been with Thomas Armstrong in Oxford on 24th November when Boyd Neel’s secretary had asked for it (for a performance in Wales the following week) and had been told it was not available. Armstrong was preparing a performance by Goossens to be given in Oxford on 8th March 1945.
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In the hand of AVW. -
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Shelfmark:File 2008D
