THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

20 July 1931.

Dear V.W.
Now that the Country Dance tunes¹ are really finished I must try and say thank you, but it is very difficulty.  It has been a horrid, unsatisfactory job for you, and you have been so patient and sympathetic with me and my pernicketiness.  I am so grateful to you.
I hope this experience will not have put you off arranging the Newfoundland tunes, because there will be no question of “collaboration” there.  When I get back from Malvern in August I will get you to look at them again and see if you feel inclined to do any.
I have never properly thanked you for letting me hear your piano concerto.²  It was a wonderful experience. That and the Rodin exhibition² in the afternoon really made me feel that “God’s in his heaven”.  Of course, technically I took in very little of the concerto, but I am sure it must be quite clear.  I felt about it as I do with nearly all your things that it has always been there, and it could note possibly be other than it is.
Yours

1. Vaughan Williams has been making piano arrangements of Twelve traditional country dances (Catalogue of Works 1931/1) for publication by Novello.
2. Piano Concerto in C major, Catalogue of Works 1931/3.
3.  “Exhibition of sculpture and drawings by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)”, July 1931 at the Leicester Galleries (exhibition no.517).