THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

April 9

Dear R
I’ve nothing more to say so I will merely give you the recapitulation section in close stretto.
1)  It’s what I’ve been waiting for for 47½ years
2)  The performance¹ was so full of You – even apart from the places I cribbed from you years ago.
3)  Are you willing to sign a contract to conduct every first performance I get during the next 10 years or so?
4)  You are teaching those people to sing!
5)  Pray accept my Blessing
Y
G

1.  On 7 April 1922 the Bach Choir, conducted by VW, performed the first group of the Choral Hymns from Holst’s Rig Veda. The Bach Choir were joined by the British Symphony Orchestra, at the Queen’s Hall. The programme note is reprinted in Vaughan Williams on Music, pp. 403-04.