THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Dorking, Surrey.

22nd May, 1952.

Dear Mr Kennedy,

Thank you so much for your letter.  It was a great pleasure to meet you both again.
I think you are right in suggesting that to attach “meanings” to music is a mistake.  Each person may attach their own meaning if they like, but it does not follow that their meaning will have the same meaning to anybody else – music is too universal for that.
I hope we shall meet in Manchester in January for the first performance of the S.A.¹
Yours sincerely,
R Vaughan Williams
Please give my love to Eslyn if I may venture²
(R. Vaughan Williams).

Michael Kennedy, Esq.
3, Moorwood Drive,
The Avenue,
Sale, Manchester.

1. i.e. Sinfonia Antartica (Catalogue of Works, 1952/2).
2.  Signed and final sentence added in manuscript.