THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

7½ Thayer St:
W.1

i vi 46

Dear Mr. Frank,

Two things I want to ask you: a) how is the printing of the Vaughan Williams quartet (mine) getting on?  Various quartets are wanting to get it, & apart from having an M.S. copy made for the Grillers we have been obliged to be rather dog-in-the manger about it owing to its not being obtainable.¹
I do hope it will be ready soon if it isn’t already.
The other thing I wanted to ask you about: a work by Philip Sainton for viola & orchestra called Serenade Fantastique.  I broadcast this last month with Sir Adrian Boult & the BBC orchestra & wonder if by chance you heard it?  It plays twelve minutes & is an excellent little work, beautifully orchestrated, lovely to play from the solo point of view, & full of variety & vitality.
Mr Sainton tells me the O.U.P had it some years ago, & when the war came & there was no opportunity of publishing it, & he took it away.  I do feel it should be published & available to players.  There is still so little to play, especially with orchestra & this is a work above the average.
If there’s a chance of doing anything about it, would you like to see it?²
Yours sincerely

Jean Stewart

1.  String Quartet no.2, CW 1944/2 was published by OUP in 1947. Sidney Griller eventually borrowed the autograph score and eventually deposited it in the Library of the University of California at Berkeley. The Library returned it to Jean Stewart in 1996 and it is now placed on loan in the British Library.
2.  Sainton’s Serenade fantastique was published as a piece for Oboe and String Orchestra by J. & W. Chester, in 1952.