THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

BROOKTHORPE,
GLOUCESTER.

[8 September 1910]

My Dear Curle
Forgive me for not answering & thanking you for y^r letter before – the performance¹ went very well – the ‘Times’ was very complimentary – the other papers luke-warm. So glad to hear your story is coming out² – I shall hope to read it soon.
Yrs
R.V.W.

1. The Three Choirs Festival was at Gloucester in 1910, and included the first performance of the Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis on Tuesday 6 September. It had a very positive review in The Times. Ernest Newman in the Birmingham Post withheld any opinion. A brief snip in the Telegraph pointed out that the tune was Tallis’s, not RVW’s. The Evening Standard was lukewarm at best. The Manchester Guardian was more positive, but perhaps dwelt overlong on RVW’s having lifted the theme from the British Museum.
2. A story by Richard Curle was published in the Manchester Guardian on 7 April 1911.