THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates, Dorking

May 23 1948

Dear Mr Sheppard
You have sent us another delightful parcel – we shall dip into the tin of Cape Gooseberry jam with much interest – It was kind of you to send it & everything travelled well except the lard which leaked a little through its cover but did non harm. It is very useful.
Can you hear our BBC programmes? My husband’s Masque “Job” has just been given at Covent Garden with full orchestra for the first time¹ – I have always wanted this so much – Sir Adrian Boult conducted – The choreography was better in many ways – the scenes not so faithful to Blake
You will be in the midst of elections this week – I admire General Smuts perhaps more than any of our public men – he seems to have such wisdom.
Miss Watts wrote me a very nice letter – I hope you are both happy & that all goes well
With best wishes
Adeline Vaughan Williams

1.1.Job was revived at Covent Garden on 20^th May, with Robert Helpmann as Satan, though Anton Dolin also returned to play Satan in June. There were new costumes and scenery by John Piper. The papers reported, as AVW does, that the full orchestration was used for the first time, but it was not so. Constant Lambert, who made the reduced orchestration used early on, protested that this was used for only a short time and the full orchestra was heard for at least six years before the war.