Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sidney Waddington
Letter No. VWL4560
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sidney Waddington
Letter No.: VWL4560
[early 1929?]
My Dear Waddington,
I venture to dedicate this opera1 to you firstly as a token of my admiration for you as a man and a musician, and secondly to show my gratitude to you for all your help and encouragement in this and all my work.
I sometimes feel that you ought with all your skill and knowledge to despise my comparatively amateurish efforts.
It really seems ridiculous that I should spend my time writing operas whilst you spend yours teaching elementary harmony to unwilling flappers. However, everyone knows that whilst you could, if you would write a first rate opera, I on the other hand should be entirely incompetant2 to teach elementary harmony so I suppose things must remain as they are.
R. Vaughan Williams
1. Sir John in Love
2. sic.
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General Notes:
Copy of a letter, written in an unidentified hand. This letter is printed in the front matter of the vocal score of Sir John in Love, on the dedication page. Date of letter assumed as Sir John in Love was composed between 1924 and 1928 and first performed in 1929; the vocal score in which this letter was included dates from 1930, and the work was subject to later revisions over a long period.
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Location Of Original:
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Shelfmark:MS 6888
