Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Morning Post
Letter No. VWL5105
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Morning Post
Letter No.: VWL5105
10 Barton Street
Westminster
Sep 24 1904
Sir,
Your correspondent, Mr Stewart Gowe, is of the opinion that there are no folk-songs left in Essex. Last Spring I spent a fortnight in an Essex village only twenty miles from London, and there and in the neighbourhood I noted down over fifty genuine folk-songs. Most of the songs had beautiful and interesting tunes. As to the words, some were old ballads such as “Robin Hood and Pedlar” and “The Green Glove”, some came off the ballad sheets, as for instance “The Lost Lady” and others were regular country songs such as “The Painful Plough”. Has Mr Gowe carefully explored his own district and made sure that the traditional songs have died out?
Yours etc.
R. Vaughan Williams
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Transcribed from Composers’ Letters, edited by Jan Fielden, Marginalia Press, 1994, p.146.
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Citation:Composers' Letters, edited by Jan Fielden, Marginalia Press, 1994, p.146.
