THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

13 Cheyne Walk,
Chelsea. S.W.

[May 1914]

Dear Lady Goodrich,
Thank you very much for your letter.
I want you to tell the choirs that I consider all the work which the festival has entailed (and I imagine that you and all the others who have worked so hard feel the same) is more than repaid by their splendid results. 
All their performances were excellent and especially the Orpheus – where I noticed among a great many other good things (a) the great improvement in tone (b) a power of singing soft for a length of time and of keeping up the pitch in soft singing which was particularly noticeable in that difficult soft chorus in Orpheus which went beautifully.
Now to temper this with one small criticism. Some of the choirs want a little more flexibility so that they can learn to sing their music not in one way only but in many ways, responding at once to the conductor’s indication. It is a thing that the most higly trained choirs often fail in – but that is no reason whi Division II. should not try for it. There is no harm done in aiming at perfection.
I must also say how tremendously I admire the devotion and enthusiasm of the various conductors and all the enormous hard work they have done in bringing their singers up to such a high standard – but they could do nothing if they were not backed up (as they have been) by the singers themselves.
Yours very sincerely
R Vaughan Williams