THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[On or about 31st July 1953]

Dear Frank,

In answer to your 2 letters
(1) – I fear I cannot bend myself to produce a work to order for U. S. A. – though the dollars are tempting. 
(2) I hope that my early ww & pfte [quintet] is irretrievably lost
Yrs

RVW

1. Lyle Dowling, US agent for OUP, had passed on an invitation from the Louisville Orchestra to VW and William Walton to each write a work for small orchestra lasting 5-20 minutes. The fee would be $1000 and the work was to be ready by February 1954.
2. A Dr Lloyd Davies had written to OUP saying that he was trying to trace an early quintet by VW which he thought to be for horn, violin, viola, cello and piano. The work must be Catalogue of Works 1898/2 – Quintet for clarinet, horn, violin, cello and piano – and, in fact, VW still had the score which is now with his other manuscripts in the British Library.