THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

Sunday [1934?]

Dictated
Dear Maud
I am returning the folk-song arrangements which I have been through.¹
I am horrified to discover that you left all the marking of expression to Grace Williams – When I put a note “please add expression to taste I of course meant you to do it.  I have cut out most of Grace’s marks and you can cut out more if you wish.  I think all marks ought to go out of the voice part.
There are 2 special songs I want to call your attention to (1) Lord Akeman,  Why do you call this Lord Bateman in the title.  If she sang Lord Akeman it ought to be so-called and if you like, Lord Bateman added as a sub title underneath.  I can’t bear this habit of calling ‘The Water is wide’ ‘Waly, Waly’ and so on.
(2) The Maidens Lament.  The accomp. becomes impossibly high in the new Key – I have modified it where I could – but I am not sure it is satisfactory.
I have this afternoon had a brainwave for the Albert Hall – You remember we discussed it some time ago at the BAC² and various suggestions were put forward for improving the music.  You remember I am against scrapping the professionals – at all events I want to give them one more chance – I think it is largely our fault – We put before them at the last moment a set of band parts with no marks, or worse still with marks which they are told not to obey, or worse still, Ruby³ gets up & says a passage ought to be played thus and then changes her mind and the poor fellows don’t really know what to do and come to the conclusion that all they’ve got to do is to blow away at the tune as loud as they can, stopping occasionally for breath without any reference to rhyme or reason.
Now, I want for the next Albert Hall a complete new set of orchestrations  Some of them perhaps “durch componiert”, meticulously marked and with plenty of fs and ps & cresces & accents – You can’t expect the professional player who does this job among a thousand others to do all this by the light of nature, but he will do it beautifully if it is written out for him & made interesting for him – These orchestrations could be done by Foster, Imogen,⁴ myself & All this of course will involve an entire change of policy.  The dances would have to be settled about six weeks before the performance – I believe this would be better from the dancing point of view as well and I think fits in with the other schemes relating to revision of the A.E Festival⁵ in its relation to the Albert Hall.
We ought to have a B.A.C meeting as soon as the holidays are over to discuss this.
Yrs
RVW

1. This is about the publication Folk Songs from Newfoundland (Oxford University Press, 1934); VW’s arrangements were reprinted in Fifteen Folk Songs from Newfoundland (Oxford University Press, 1968). See Catalogue of Works 1934/12.
2. Board of Artistic Control of the English Folk Dance Society.
3. The violinist Elsie Avril was known as Ruby.
4. Arnold Foster and Imogen Holst.
5. All England Festival of Folk Dance and Song, held at the Royal Albert Hall; in 1934 this was on January 6.