THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

Aug 31 1940

Dear Miss Thackeray¹
Many thanks for your letter. I do not pretend that I am “above” liking appreciation from those whose judgment I value. So thankyou very much for all you write. I am glad you like the Finale the best, I am inclined to agree with you. On the whole I do not like the work any more as a whole – though I believe I meant it all when I wrote it.²
Old age has brought a quieter method in what I am now writing (probably you would not like it so much!)
After all one has to write as one feels – and if it is all right so much the better, if not so much the worse. I hope we shall have the pleasure of meeting personally one day.
Yours sincerely
R Vaughan Williams

1. Possibly Anne Wynne Thackeray, an amateur musician who supported the City Concerts for Children, and had built a music room in the grounds of her home in Cumnor. The letter was donated to the Royal College of Music by Charlotte Chesney, whose mother was Anne M. Thackeray.
2. Possibly the work in question was the Symphony no.4, first recorded in 1937.