Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood
Letter No. VWL1612
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood
Letter No.: VWL1612
The White Gates
Xmas Day [25th December ?1943]
My Dear
Thank you for the poem which like very much – I like looking at version one best because it is your hand writing – & that seems to make it mean more – But I admit the 2nd version is an improvement.
My dear I do hope you are better – Jean1 gave rather an alarming account of you – Do take care of yourself even at the cost of a few late nights.
I am glad you came to Job – I am not sure that I do not like the idea of a lot of figures helping out Satan’s Dance.
Do we meet on Jan 2nd?
Love
RVW
Second letter enclosed with the above
My dear
I quite forgot to add that the sweets are delicious. I ate 2 at lunch & could have eaten 20. I passed them round (unwillingly) & gave some to the staff telling them that you had made them.
The hens have begun laying again – we got 3 eggs one day.
Love
RVW
1. Ursula’s friend Jean Stewart, a professional viola player, who lived in the flat below Ursula in Thayer Street in London.
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General Notes:
Other thankyou letters to UW exist for 1939 and 1940. After her husband’s death in 1942 UW normally joined the VWs for Christmas, but the reference to Job ties up with 1943, when it was revived at the New Theatre, St. Martin’s Lane on 22 December 1943. But the reviews don’t talk about extra figures in Satan’s Dance.
The postscript ties up neatly with VW attending an English Folk Dance and Song concert at the Wigmore Hall on 2 January 1944, playing music from Byrd to VW; VW conducted combined forces in two final carols. -
Location Of Original:
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Shelfmark:MS Mus. 1714/2/1/1, ff. 49-50
