THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
10, Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park,
London, N.W.1.

August 4th 1957.

Dear Mr Morris

I am so sorry, but I cannot see my way to letting a soprano sing the solo in the male voice arrangement of Greensleeves … not so much from the musical, as from the dramatic point of view. The only way out of the difficulty, to my mind is to have the solo sung by a few of your best tenors.  I think the places where the chorus take over from the solo could easily be faked.¹ 
Yrs sincerely

R. Vaughan Williams

1. Morris had written on 2nd August saying that he had become conductor of the Stock Exchange Male Voice Choir and that they intended to include VW’s arrangement of Greensleeves for male voice choir (Catalogue of Works 1934/1 – (c) under ‘The Song’ – published by Oxford University Press in 1957) in a concert. However as the choir had no tenor capable of singing the solo part, they had thought of asking their guest soprano soloist to sing it:  Would this be all right and, if it was, could OUP amend the specification to ‘Tenor Solo (or Soprano Solo)’ in the publication when it was next reprinted?