THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

21. September 1952.

Dear Roy

I am so sorry but I have mislaid your first letter so I cannot correct the supposed misprint in my No.5.¹
 I think I know the rest of the letter by heart. As regards the authors of the quotations, I did not want to appear to be a prig, so I have decided to add them, they are as follows,
I. Prelude. “To suffer … victory”
              Shelley. Prometheus Unbound.
II. 
 Scherzo. “There goes …therein.” Psalm 104.
III.   
 Landscape. “Ye ice falls … cataracts.”
        Coleridge. Hymn before Sunrise.
IV. Intermezzo. “Love … of time.”
        Donne The Sunne rising
V. Epilogue. “I do not … complaint.”
        Scotts Last Journal.

As regards the instrumentation, I am rather alarmed at the number of percussion players required. Could not the wind machine man be one of the four? … and rush behind the screen at the critical moment. Also, would it save a player if we could arrange the xylo & glock should not play simultaneously? It would probably not hurt much. I have changed my mind about the soprano solo and chorus. They need not be out of sight, but should be either behind or in the middle of the orchestra, at all events not in front.
 To revert once more to the misprint on number V. If you are in a great hurry to know would you ring me up?
    Yrs
    RVW

1. Of Sinfonia Antartica.