THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

[March 1912]

Dear Dent

Many thanks for your letter – I wish I could come to hear the Marlowe Society – This is my busiest time of the year – I am off on Monday to the Isle of Man (if I ever get there!) to judge.¹ I was awfully interested in the Spaniard’s views – I wonder if he was one of the 30 or 40 people who were introduced to me after the concert² – They were all very nice and friendly and complimentary – there was a party after the concert in the shop of a music publisher called Mathot – champagne flowing like water.
Have you ever heard of a composer called Eric Satie – Ravel has, apparently discovered him – he was doing all the Debussy tricks in 1887 before D. was invented. – They are not much in themselves but are interesting as fore-runners.
V. D’Indy on Brahms is interesting – I sh^d say just the same of D’Indy himself.³
Yrs

R. Vaughan Williams

1. VW was adjudicator (jointly with Edward Iles) for the 21st Manx competitive Music Festival from 19 to 21 March.
2. Possibly the performance of On Wenlock Edge in Paris on 29 February 1912 – see R.V.W.: a biography, pp.102-3.
3. Possibly a reference to D’Indy’s critique of Brahms in his Cours de composition musicale, of which the first volume was published in 1912.