THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

December 1932

My Darling Grace
What a lovely handkerchief – but you sh^dnt have given me such a handsome present. Your love on a card is all I want – nevertheless I love having it & thankyou 1000 times. There is a lot I want to know about you – how you are, & whether  you have enough jobs to keep you going & how the trumpet piece¹ is getting on & when I am to see the opera.²
– You must come & tell me all this when you come back to London.
– I was down in your country on Monday conducting a choir of unemployed miners at Cwmaman – wonderful singing – I wish I c^d  have spared time to come & see you³
Love from Uncle Ralph

1. Movement (Concerto-Fantasia) for trumpet and chamber orchestra
2. Hen Walia was originally conceived as the overture to a folk opera, which was never realised.
3. VW conducted Toward the Unknown Region in a concert given by the Cwmaman Choral Society at the Cwmaman Institute on Boxing Day, 1932. The concert also included Four Hymns for tenor, viola and string orchestra (or tenor, viola and piano), Catalogue of Works 1914/2. See VWL994, VWL4602 and VWL1027. Williams’ home town was Barry in south Wales.