THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

GRAND HOTEL
Place Stanislas
Nancy

[late November 1913]

Dear Mr Barter

I am terribly sorry to say that I shall not be able to come to hear your chorus perform my “Sea Symphony” after all – as I am obliged to be abroad at the time – I cannot tell you what a dissappointment¹  it is to me as I know from what I have heard what a fine performance it is likely to be – meanwhile I wish every success to you & your choir for your concert.²
Yrs sincerely

R. Vaughan Williams

1. sic.
2. The Bristol Philharmonic Society was to give their second performance of A Sea Symphony on  Wednesday 10th December 1913. The Bristol Evening Post (13 December) reported that the care of an invalid wife prevented VW’s attendance. VW was to spend much of December and January with Adeline, her mother and Emmeline and Hervey Fisher at Ospedaletti-Ligure and had reached the Italian Riviera by 5 December (see VWL390). See also VWL342 and VWL343. Barter wrote a long letter to VW on January 1st 1914 describing the performance (now at British Library MS Mus. 1714/1/5)