THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
The White Gates
Dorking

Dec 3 [1947]

Dear Frank
Can you or Phyllis¹ suggest any pieces of the wrong note school (I mean the real thing – Schonberg, Berg, Lutyens, Gerhard – it doesn’t matter which they all sound exactly the same to me). I want to find out how they achieve those nasty noises they make – I might find something useful for my “Dance of Penguins”.² It had better be pfte music as I can’t read a score. Also who publishes Mahler’s 2^nd (“Resurrection”) Symphony – I want to study the orchestration of one or two passages – not for wrong notes – his notes seem to be painfully “right”
Yrs
R Vaughan Williams

1. Phyllis Tate, the composer, who was married to Alan Frank.
2. VW was composing the film music for Scott of the Antarctic.