THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[14] Aug [1949]

My Dear John

I have only just discovered that your birthday was yesterday so these words of admiration and affection are a day behind the fair – but none the less sincere for that.¹
– My mind goes back to very early days at the R.C.M.² when we each heard our first orchestral works – how I admired your technical power! and how I felt (and still do) my almost amateurish bungling.
– You have always had the (apparently) masterly ease of expression (though I know it really comes from hours of hard labour) which I  have always envied.
I wish you w^d write another choral work – my people loved ‘These things shall be’.
Well you have now reached the alotted³ span – but I feel sure that you have years of inspiration before you.  I have already passed the limit by 6 years and am evidently becoming a garrulous old gentleman – so it is time I stopped
Yrs
R Vaughan Williams

1. John Ireland was born on 13 August 1879.
2. Royal College of Music
3. sic.