THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

The White Gates,
Dorking, Surrey.

22nd. May, 1952.

Dear Mr. Walton,

I fear I cannot accept your kind invitation to give a lecture at the B.B.C.,¹ though I should dearly love to say some hard things about Father Ronald Knox and his Wardour Street version of the “Song of Solomon”.²
Yours sincerely,

R Vaughan Williams

(R. Vaughan Williams).

R.C. Walton, Esq.,
School Broadcasting Dept.,
B.B.C.
Broadcasting House, W.1.

1.  On religion and philosophy.
2.  Ronald Knox had published translations of various parts of the Bible (the complete translation was published in 1955).  VW was strongly opposed to such modern translations in any case (see his round robin letter to Gilbert Murray, VWL2984) and he especially loved the Song of Solomon, quoted for example in the score of Flos Campi.  Wardour Street was the address of several publishers of popular music.