THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

11 August 1958

Dona Nobis, record of performance by the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte directed by Earl F. Berg.
I dont know in which county Charlotte is – can you deduce?  Pre Independence.¹
It was lovely to see you – Bloody notices in the Sunday paper – how impertinent they all are²
Love

U

1.  The VWs had been sent a recording of Dona Nobis Pacem (Catalogue of Works 1936/3) made in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Kennedy had wanted to get hold of a copy for himself.
2.  Notices of the “promenade” performance of the Ninth Symphony on 5 August. Eric Mason wrote in the Sunday Times: “Another hearing of the latest Vaughan Williams symphony – cleanly played by the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent—confirmed that its strength lies in the firmly built outer movements. The first movement especially is full of characteristic and lovely sound. The second movement and scherzo, in which Vaughan Williams continues the exploration of novel timbres begun in the “Sinfonia Antartica” and the Eighth Symphony, are musically less convincing.”