THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

Sept 10 [1951]

Dear Roy

As there seem to be about to be a good many performances of my symphonies I think they ought to be overhauled. I am sending you ‘pastoral’ & ‘No. 5’ – will you help me by going through them carefully & suggesting alterations in any places where in your opinion the texture (& especially the orchestration) does not ‘come off’.
It is often difficult to decide whether one ought to score for the wireless, the concert room, or the Albert Hall – also I am getting deaf & things which are probably all right sound all wrong to me: e.g. No. 5 V.1 & 2 p.2 figure (1) I often over the wireless have literally not heard the violins & even in the concert room I have only just heard it – yet it looks all right!
Of course if you kindly undertake this if will be as between you & me & not between you & the publisher.
The red ink corrections already in the pastoral are already in the parts – those in No 5 are not.
How is the opera going – Act III is ready for you whenever you want it.¹
Yrs

R Vaughan Williams

1. Pilgrim’s Progress.