Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Fletcher
Letter No. VWL4890
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Fletcher
Letter No.: VWL4890
From R. Vaughan Williams.
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
[1940s?]
Dear Mary
If I remember right we got the tune out of a chinese missionary book where it was described as a chinese tune. It looks Chinese – but to make safe I added “adapted from” as probably the missionaries had faked it & regularized it. – The likeness to the Appalachian tune is probably due to the Pentatonic scale which is common to so much primitive music.
Yrs
RVW
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General Notes:
Date estimated from letterhead (after 1935). Mary Fletcher was the sister-in-law of VW’s friend Robert (Bobby) Longman, and in the 1920s had lent VW her house in Wiltshire for some quiet time to compose.
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Location Of Original:
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Shelfmark:MS Mus. 1714/2/5, f. 109
