Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan
Letter No. VWL989
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan
Letter No.: VWL989
From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
Dec 28 [1937]
Dear Bessy
I have spent my Xmas holidays doing this – I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.1
It is very difficult & of course, to fit the notes, only a very free adaptation is possible. I have not tried rhyme – also “Amen” seems impossible in English.
I am open to suggestions as to improvement – perhaps Bob would cast an expert eye over it.
I have had to substitute ♩for ♪♪ and for ♪ in one or two places – also I have ventured to alter the notation in 3 places
(1) I think 6/8 should be 3/4
(2) should be
(3) ♩͡ ♪ is easier to sing than ♩ .
If & when you think it possible will you send it to J. Röntgen – perhaps his publishers would care to issue it for the English public – if not we cd try an English publisher if the Dutch publisher would give leave.2
Yrs
RVW
1.Probably the making an English adaptation of Bet Meeszenestje – Tom Tit’s Nest, by Johannes Röntgen, published by Oxford University Press in 1938.
2. Johannes Röntgen was a relation of Elizabeth Trevelyan.
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Shelfmark:RCT 16.196
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Shelfmark Copy:MS Mus 1714/2/6, ff. 130-131