Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams
Letter No. VWL3876
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams
Letter No.: VWL3876
From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
[Late February 1937]
Dear Grace
I listened to your Elegy – (I had already heard the rehearsal of it for Idris’ concert1
I liked it – well written & not smart or brilliant
Betty’s 4tet is fine2
I hope to go to Dorothy’s oboe 5tet on the 13th3
Love from Uncle Ralph
– come & see me at RCM4 one day
1. Elegy for string orchestra, conducted by Idris Lewis, musical director of the Welsh Symphony Orchestra.
2. Elizabeth Maconchy – presumably her String quartet no.2, completed in 1936.
3. Dorothy Gow, Oboe quintet in one movement (1936).
4. Royal College of Music, where VW taught.
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Date from context; Grace Williams’ Elegy for string orchestra was first broadcast on 25 February 1936, but only on BBC Wales, although VW seems to have been able to attend a rehearsal for that performance. The Elegy was performed again on 22 February 1937 at an Iris Lemare concert in the Mercury Theatre, and RVW was probably there. Maconchy’s Divertissement for 12 instruments was also performed. Elizabeth Maconchy’s String quartet no.2 was premiered on 1 February 1937, again at the Mercury Theatre, to a “small and expert audience consisting largely of composers, conductors, musical performers and critics”, probably including VW. Dorothy Gow’s Quartet for Oboe and Strings received its first performance at the London Contemporary Music Centre on 13 April 1937.
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