THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[22 July 1933]

Dearest Harriet

Thank you 1000 times for those lovely flowers & for your dear letter – I am so sorry you have been ill and for the cause of it.  It is v. exciting about the concerto but rather upsetting – I meant to have rewritten the last movement to make it better for you – & I kept on putting it off and off till I c^d approach it with a calm mind – Now it’s got to go once again in its old form.
– One slight alteration I think we can make – The “quotation” at the end of the work does not “come off” – we understand it – but the audience does not.  So I will in the next few days think out a new ending – only about 4 new bars for you to learn.¹
Much love from

RVW

1. The concerto was to be given at the Promenade concerts on 22 August, with VW conducting. On the quotation from Bax’s 3rd Symphony, see VWL1028. The letter is partially printed in Kennedy, Works of Vaughan Williams, p.237.