THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

[mid 1930s?]

Dearest Grace
My pupils never satisfy me – just as I never satisfy myself – & I listen to their works with the almost morbid sense of criticism with which I listen to my own work – add to this that I was hearing it for the first time, late in the evening when I was tired – & I did like it & told you so – but my job is I consider to tell you the bits I don’t like
As to saying “this is getting dull – I must ginger it up” – I don’t mean that you must not use every effort to get the “mot juste” before you are satisfied – but rather that we are all apt to say “this is not quite spicy enought to please my “fellow composers” – they are the dangerous companions – the “Mr Legality” who lead you out of the way called straight¹
all my love
Uncle Ralph

1. “Mr Legality” is a character in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.