THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Dorking.

[April 25 1939]

My Dear Vally¹

Thank you so much for your letter. I am so sorry I missed greeting – twice we were coming towards each other & something intervened – but it was nice even to see you.
Those choirs are wonderful & the devotion of their own individual trainers is astonishing.²
Love from

Uncle Ralph

1.  A mistress at St Paul’s School, where she had been a colleague of Gustav Holst. She and her friend and colleague Helen Bidder, known as Biddy and Vally, often played through new works in piano arrangement for VW. The original of this letter was sold at a sale in aid of the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund in 1987.
2.  VW had conducted a performance of the Bach’s B minor Mass at Dorking on 21st April.