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Wagner, Wilhelm Richard (1813-1883), composer
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Letter from E. M. Forster to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/ADD/95 · Item · 1 Sept 1954
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Kings College Cambridge [headed notepaper). - Asks if she would be free on Thursday 9th; if so, would 'very much like' to visit for lunch, to see her and 'talk about our talks on the 20th [at the ceremony to mark the opening of Robert Trevelyan's memorial library at Birkbeck'. Fears he would have to return in the afternoon. If that is not convenient, perhaps it would suit her to meet another day in London.

Is doing a broadcast on Bayreuth, and 'must tidy up my script! Florence [Barger] has gone off to America!"
Postcard from E. M. Forster to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/ADD/94 · Item · 15 Aug 1954
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

'Near Bayreuth'; postmarked Kulmbach. - Bessie's 'kind letter' reached him and Florence [Barger] here in Germany, where they have been seeing the Ring and Parsifal 'under Evert [Barger]'s good auspices and management'. Gets back at the end of the month, and would 'much like' to see her in London or the Shiffolds before 20th Sept; was 'so pleased to be asked to speak [at the ceremony then to mark the opening of Robert Trevelyan's memorial library at Birkbeck College]. I shan't talk long!'. Very glad that Bessie will also be speaking.

Florence sends love, she is 'off to America! when she returns'
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
PETH/7/82 · Item · 16 May 1901
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

20 Somerset Terrace, Duke’s Road, W.C.—Encloses a draft manifesto. Suggests he write a letter to take advantage of the Daily News’s effort to ‘work up’ Merriman and Sauer. Discusses arrangements for going to the theatre and the opera, and refers to Club activities.

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Transcript

20 Somerset Terr. | Dukes Rd W.C.
16. 5. 01 {1}

Dear Mr Lawrence.

I enclose my draft: The point is to be comprehensive—& yet so far as possible, definite: I just send it for what it is worth—without waiting to show it to Mary even.

I see that there is an effort in Daily News to work up Merriman & Sauer even at the 11th hour—This ought to be made the most of. Can you write a letter by way of doing the very first next thing—& can we turn anybody on to the question. Can we get a little bit of “go” into the S. A Conciliation Talk to Percy—will you? I dont think his name ought to be used at the foot of a letter or publicly unless we really want it: because he has so much that is not his to lose: (you will understand just how far I think that this consideration weighs—)

We had a sweet day yesterday “round the billy fire”, Mary & Mac & “Katimole”, & my “Sweetest of All”, whose 7th birthday it was. I came home to the Club & then was too tired to do more than look at your Manifesto.

I am going this afternoon with dear Brother Jack to “Pelleas & Melisande” {2}. The angel never dreams of going anywhere without taking us along too!

By the way, I want to hear “The Walküre”, & you never know to a day or two when it is coming on at Covent Garden. You have simply to watch the papers & make a rush for the tickets. I am taking Emma Rozier (who lost her little sister last Friday). Shall I take a third ticket for you on spec: they cost 10/6. It is the one you want to hear. I daresay somebody else would take it if you couldn’t come.

One thing more. I want the children to have a very happy time at Canning Town on Sat. week (25th). I want them to come to the Residence to tea about 4.30. They love parties & I am consumed with the desire to give them every mortal thing they want. You know they are no trouble to entertain—they are not ordinary children, are they?—so keen, & so gentle. Of course I am writing to Percy, but I want you to be there, if you can possibly manage it.

Yes, I admire Miss Octavia Hill’s work very much—also above & beyond her accomplishment she was a pioneer, & that means the original mind & the heroic temper. I feel that I have heaps to talk to you about, but I may be wrong, it is only a vague impression!

Sincerely yours
Emmeline Pethick

P.S. Mac has just come in, & Mary. They approve of my draft.

—————

{1} ‘16’ altered from ‘15’.

{2} Mrs Patrick Campbell revived Maeterlinck’s play, with music by Fauré, for five mat-inees at the Royalty Theatre from 13 to 17 May (Monday to Friday). See The Times, 13 May 1901, p. 7.
Letter from Caroline Trevelyan to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/13/78 · Item · 14 May [1898]
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

8 Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Sir George got Robert's note [see 46/63] last night: they think it is 'very kind' of him to offer to give up his opera, but she hopes to make another arrangement and he should not trouble about it until they meet on Wednesday. Sir George 'had no idea how important the [Ring] Cycle is to the elect'. Robert should go to 'a series of lectures to prepare for the music'. They are going to Welcombe until Tuesday afternoon.
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
PETH/7/70 · Item · 21 Feb. 1901
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

20 Somerset Terrace (Duke’s Road, W.C.).—Encloses a report of a lecture by Professor Herron and a book by Richard Jefferies, and expresses her admiration of Wagner. Commends Cope’s personality, and refers to South African affairs.

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Transcript

20 Somerset Terrace.

  1. Feb. 1901

Dear Mr Lawrence.

The books arrived but—where is the MSS. {1}? Have you let it fall by mistake into the waste paper basket—or what? If you can find it, I should be glad to have it for association’s sake.

The other day I had the enclosed report from my friend Professor Herron {2} of one of his Sunday lectures, and it seemed to me to offer a common (because comprehensive) ground to our two standpoints in regarding this subject. I refer specially to the last three paragraphs of the report. I would like to have it back, for these lectures are parts of a book that Professor Herron is writing and he likes me to talk things over with him. If I did as I “oughter” I should try at any rate to write a Paper he has asked for his International Socialist Review {3} on “the relation of the socialist movement to the religion of the future”.

I am glad that you liked the Wagner book, and went and picked out the very part that I most desire to hear all through in opera. I hope I may be able to hear and see at least “The Walküre” in June at Covent Garden. The Bayreuth plan is perforce postponed. It is just what you say, “the whole of life seems set out before me”. Wagner seems to me the man whose conception of life is adequate to the mental conception of, say, the solar systems. He conceives life immense in passion, pulse and power commensurate with knowledge. Here at last we have an intensity to match our conceptions of space and time—intensity to infuse eternity itself with living warmth and the vital beauty of everlasting youth. Here then lies it seems to me the contrast between Wagner and Tolstoi. To the one belong youth and force and complexity, to the other old age, insensibility and the reduction of life to a rational abstraction. One is the universe of the solar systems, the other a world of extinct fires like the moon.

I have come to the conclusion that bitterness is the warp of the noblest or almost noblest natures. (Though of course there are cheap sham imitations of cynicism as there are of everything.) But one so often finds underneath it the ardently idealistic temperament; it is the recoil of the heart from pitiless circumstance.

I think I never knew anyone of so passionately chivalrous a temperament as Mr Cope, or anyone with such self-reckless pity for weak things. I know what it has been to keep him “chained-up” when any wrong or injustice was being done to one of the girls, or to any little child. You cannot possibly have any idea of what the suffering of women and children has meant to him. I don’t say that this capacity for pity is (standing by itself) a strength to a man or a good thing to have, but God only knows what the oppressed would do without it, or where their champions would come from, if there were not these uncalculating natures. Yes I think you could be of use to him. I have always thought so. Do try.

I thought the letter on Wednesday a very good one, just the right thing said in the best way. Did you notice a very pathetic account of Kruger in Tuesday’s paper, an interview with an Englishwoman? I was interested very in Graydon’s letter today. What do you think of its suggestions?

And now I am sending this with another book {4}, quite a different sort of book from anything else written—not because now or at any time you should read anything but what suits you, but because it is as easy for me to send or for you to return as not, n’est-ce-pas? Jeffreys†, as you probably know, was a naturalist and his other books are written in a different vein, but none without the quality of “mind-fire”, which does not invariably go with the scientific spirit. There are two or three pages from p. 111 especially which I always find very beautiful and touching.

Yours sincerely,
Emmeline Pethick

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{1} Probably the MS sent with PETH 7/68.

{2} George Davis Herron, an American clergyman and Christian Socialist. Emmeline’s ‘talks’ with him were presumably by letter.

{3} The International Socialist Review was a monthly journal published at Chicago by the Marxist publishers Charles H. Kerr & Co. from July 1900. It was not in fact Herron’s journal—it was edited till 1908 by A. M. Simons—but Herron contributed ‘A Plea for Unity of American Socialists’ to the December number (vol. i, no. 6, pp. 321–8) and, from January 1901, a regular section entitled ‘Socialism and Religion’.

{4} Richard Jefferies, The Story of My Heart (1883).
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
PETH/7/69 · Item · 10 Feb. 1901
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

20 Somerset Terrace (Duke’s Road, W.C.).—Responds to his criticisms of Mary Neal’s paper on socialism. Has heard that he is meeting Merriman, and asks to be kept informed about the situation (in South Africa).

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Transcript

20 Somerset Terr.
Feb. 10th, 1901

Dear Mr Lawrence,

Thank you for your letter. Sister Mary and I were very glad to have your criticism on the Paper. There is just one point that I should like to take up in reply. I know that nothing less than the infinite pity is sufficient for the infinite pathos of human life, and that this infinite human appeal cannot be met by any finite forms of social reconstruction by any mere systems of distribution of production. And yet I think that the argument for Socialism may well be based on the ground of human justice. I do not think that human justice is lower ground than Christian love; I would rather call it the first step of the ladder of infinite pity that reaches from earth to heaven; it is the first step and it must be made first. “Christian love” has been in the world as a force for a very long time but I think it has never wrought any great deliverance for humanity until it has been focussed into a conception of human justice. There is of course a mystic or spiritual side to Socialism which does not fall within the scope of this paper, which we do not generally speak of because it belongs to the almost unspeakable life of the soul with God (we can’t speak of it, there are no words). On its mystic side it is Christ, the divine revelation, the infinite pity, the eternal sacrifice, the atonement, Christ the mediator of the new covenant between man and man. But you can never preach this; you couldn’t have it argued about, or bring dispute into the temple where each worships alone. You can only feel it.

Yes, that bit about music and art is not quite clearly expressed. Genius, like life, is the inscrutable secret, but like life it depends on material conditions for its manifestation and development, and without this manifestation it has not, as far as we are concerned, any being. And it comes home to all of us who know anything about the children of the disinherited, how much we lose as a society from the denial to human faculties of their proper material for development. But anything I could say on this point you would I think readily agree with.

I heard casually that you were seeing Merriman today. You will not forget, will you, how intensely interested I am in this political question, in which I seem to see so much more than mere political issues at stake. It is always my first waking thought and never very far from me. If you have anything to tell, any new light to throw on the situation, you will think of us, won’t you? Mr Cope, too; this thing has almost broken him, he has taken it so deeply to heart. Of course anything that you told him would come straight to me. I thought you were going to help him by keeping in touch with him. I told you, did I not, that you were the sort of man he ought to know; he ought to be properly “run” by a good executive!

I am sending you this book, you see. I thought perhaps it would be a help to the other. I have the Story too told more or less for children, but charmingly written (my kiddies love it), but I will not send that unless you want to see it. Do you hear how the kids are beginning to sing!

Yours sincerely,
Emmeline Pethick
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
PETH/7/68 · Item · 30 Jan. x 4 Feb. 1901
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

20 Somerset Terrace, W.C.—Sends a paper by Mary Neal, a manuscript about the opening of their first show-room, and Forman’s translation of The Nibelung’s Ring. Expresses some ideas on education, and sends news of the Club.

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Transcript

20 Somerset Terr., W.C.

Dear Mr Lawrence,

I am thinking of writing a book and calling it “Imaginary Conversations with a Matter of Fact Man”. If I do, you will perhaps cease to be plagued with books and papers! But in the meantime will you read this little paper {1} of Sister Mary’s before it goes to the Publishers. I would like to know what you think of it, and so would she. Of course we do not get much criticism from our own circle!

I was turning out my old papers yesterday, and I found this ancient-looking M.S. I do not know why I send it to you, but something makes me want to send it. It brings back our opening service in our first little show {2} room. We were all there, and I had to take the service. There is something very sweet about those memories of the earliest days; we were all so young!

And I am sending the book too, {3} the story of the magic of the gold, the power and the curse of the ring. I am not going to say very much because it is too big. But I am sure there are some things in it that you will like. The whole story of Brunhilda, and the boy-hero Siegfried, so unconquerable in his youth and fearlessness, and yet so unseeing. So wholly regardless of all his possession except his sword:

“In a sword I wrought
are all my riches—” {4}

If I could have anything to do with education, I should of course have the children fitted for their work by the usual technical instruction, but their education for life should be by the old Greek method, games and stories. There should be no precept, but vision. The only idea of morality should be “the King in his beauty”, {5} to whom loyalty should be not duty but living impulse, for whom death itself could be sweet, and life uncalculating.

Talking of children, I wish you could have been present the other evening at a little party that the children gave to me and a few friends. They got up the entertainment entirely by themselves, and the most amusing part was the stage-directions and audible asides. They did Sleeping Beauty, and when the little Sleeper opened her eyes before the psychic moment, great was the irritation of the Prince; she was thrust back on the conventionalities with a vigorous poke and a loud whisper: “Not yet, you silly”!

Pett Ridge came an hour too soon for dinner last Monday evening! {6} So he had the privilege of seeing the preliminary operations! I think he rather enjoyed it! I really won’t waste any more time gossipping, but will rather remain

Sincerely,
Emmeline Pethick

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{1} On socialism. See the next letter.

{2} Probable reading.

{3} Alfred Forman, The Nibelung’s Ring: English Words to Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen, in the Alliterative Verse of the Original, first published in 1877.

{4} The words are from Act I of Götterdämmerung, as translated by Forman (The Nibelung’s Ring, p. 286).

{5} Isaiah xxxiii. 17.

{6} 28 January. See PETH 7/67.
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
Letter from Emmeline Pethick to F. W. Lawrence
PETH/7/67 · Item · 28 Jan. 1901
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

20 Somerset Terrace (Duke’s Road, W.C.).—Offers to criticise his article, and suggests he talk with Norman Franks. Is disgusted by the sentimental reaction to the death of Queen Victoria. Refers to their guests for dinner.

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Transcript

20 Somerset Terr.
28 Jan. 1901

Dear Mr Lawrence,

We must try to bear up! We are quite used to seeing our bulwarks (against old ladies and other enemies) walking off in all directions! And yet we manage somehow to hold the fort! Seriously, we are not discouraged—neither are we optimistic; while we are alive we go on, voila tout!

I am glad about the book; yes, do send the article when it is ready and I will criticize unmercifully. I know what you mean; we don’t want something merely academic but something dynamic. This is your subject. I think you ought to have a talk with Norman Franks. He knows a great deal experimentally. He nearly lost his life sticking on for 3 years in Rothwell Bgs: {1} and is most keen on the subject. I am sure he would be delighted to see you any time at 59 Eastcheap.

I cannot help being disgusted by the sentimentalism run riot amongst us. {2} There is something real, as you say, something great in the way the ends of the earth have been united in their loyalty to one woman, {3} who was personally worthy of the great ideal which she represented, but it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, who found herself growing so small that she began to be drowned in her own tears and had to swim through to dry land. Besides, sentimentalism is the death of real feeling and we lose everything including our own self-respect.

Thanks for the little book that you sent me; it is full of the sweet reasonableness and light of the writer, but I always miss the battle-cry:

“Fall battle-axe & clash brand!
Let the King reign.”! {4}

I am going to send you one of my books, one of which I never tire, that never loses its absolute fascination for me. I don’t expect you to like it, so don’t go against the grain to read it. But if you do read it perhaps I might be able to tell you why I accept Wagner and reject Tolstoi.

Shall I tell you for whom we are cooking the dinner today: Mr Pett Ridge, Mr Dunbar Smith {5} and Mac, and the Lady Katherine Thynne (or “Miss Bath”) {6}.

The wife May has a Boys’ Club, so we have to do dishing up and all. She is still as great a source of pleasure and amusement as ever. Her latest is in reference to Mr MacIlwaine coming while we were out:

(Sister Mary, soliloquy) “I suppose he went back to his work”
(May (in her most clucking style)) “Didn’t look much like work!—the way he flopped ’isself down!”

By the way, you have a principle against answering invitations, nicht wahr? Und der Herr ist auch in Deutschland gewesen, und er spricht wohl Deutsch. Also, leben Sie recht wohl.

Ihre höchst, etc.
Emmeline Pethick

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{1} Rothwell Buildings, in Whitfield Street, St Pancras.

{2} The reference is to the national mood following death of Queen Victoria on the 22nd.

{3} Above ‘human being’ struck through.

{4} A conflation of two lines repeated several times in Tennyson’s ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (one of the Idylls of the King): ‘Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign’, and ‘Clash battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.’

{5} Arnold Dunbar Smith, who, together with Cecil Claude Brewer, had designed the Passmore Edwards Settlement. He was later employed by the Pethick-Lawrences to build a cottage near their house in Surrey as a guest-house for London children. See My Part in a Changing World, p. 132.

{6} Lady Katherine Thynne was the second daughter of the 4th Marquess of Bath. She married the Earl of Cromer on 22 October this year.
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/7/66 · Item · 8 July 1936
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Hotel des Iles Britanniques, Aix-les-Bains. - Originally enclosing his draft of the new scene [in Act III of "The Bride of Dionysus"]. Will now orchestrate this; it is two thirds of the original length. Feels that now 'the broad-church-bishop calm of Dionysus will come to its proper effect' after the 'alarming impression of the Dionysiac frenzy'. Mona Benson's 'great moment of the closing of the gates in Act II' showed him that 'an unscored improvised yell' can sometimes be much better than any written music; cites 'the howling of Kundry' [in Wagner's "Parsifal"].
Letter from Elizabeth des Amorie van der Hoeven to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/9/65 · Item · 15 May 1900
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

The Hague. - Very sweet of Bob to send the flowers, though they have not yet arrived, and the 'dear' letter about them. Hopes the high wind drops before his crossing; will sympathise if it does not and he puts off travelling, but he must wire to let her know. Her uncle received Bob and his father's letters this morning; thinks everything will come right with the papers. Wrong of Bob 'not to trust a Dutch hatter'; she finds out 'more and more what an insular mind' he has; jokes that there is still time for her to change her mind about marrying him. Thinks her uncle has decided to give the wedding luncheon at the hotel; this does seem more convenient, though 'one nasty side' remains. There has been 'an absurd though rather nasty misunderstanding about the plan again' which she will tell him about later if necessary; her aunt is on her uncle's side as ever on the matter. Mr [Henry Yates] Thompson's presents sound very nice, particularly the Cambridge book. Hopes Bob enjoys "Tannhauser"; it is her least favourite of the music by Wagner she has heard. Would like to see at least some of the poetry he has been working on, and certainly his play. Bob says he sent her "Mallow and Asphodel" last summer; in fact he gave her his book in November when he had come on their 'Vondling expedition'; remembers the 'sweet confusion & doubt' they felt then, which has now become love. Finishes off the letter later, after going with her aunt to try on the wedding dress, which is 'very gorgeous & splendid'.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Julian Trevelyan
TRER/15/65 · Item · 9 May 1930
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

May try to come to Cambridge before the end of the month. Bessie went abroad on Thursday. C.A. [Clifford Allen] is much better, it will be some time until he and Joan can travel abroad. Joan has chicken-pox and is in quarantine. Does not know about the Waterfields: they have had a lot of paying guests at Aulla, until one, 'a young man from Oxford, suddenly lost his memory and more or less went mad, and is being looked after at Poggio [Gherardo] with nurses'. Expects the Waterfields will go to Aulla soon if the young man can be sent home, but then [their children] Johnny and Kinta will probably come out to visit. Had thought of arranging for the Allens to stay when Clifford is strong enough, but it is unclear when that would be. The Waterfields want him to visit, but he cannot go abroad until the building plans for the Shiffolds are settled, probably by August; may then go to Aulla for a while and on to the Berensons at Vallombrosa. Thinks Julian should write to Lina and ask if he could stay as a paying guest, though he should remember there is not as much space at Aulla as at Poggio, and if the Allens could go they should have preference. Currently here alone, but will go to London on Monday for [Wagner's] "Rheingold with the "Walkyrie [sic]" on Thursday. Desmond [MacCarthy] printed his epistle to him in the May "Life & Letters", but forgot to use the corrected proof, so there are '5 monstrous misprints'. Hopes Julian is finding some time to do some reading. Unsure whether he will be able to come to Cambridge next week. Asks when Julian's exams are, and how he likes Granville Barker's "Shakespeare"
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/7/64 · Item · 27 June 1936
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

King's Arms Hotel, Oxford. - Ideas for adaptations to be made [to "The Bride of Dionysus"], relating to the interaction of the Satyrs, Maenads, and Ariadne [in Act III]. Provides musical notation for one of the changes he wishes to make, and asks for new text from Trevelyan. Compares his projected new music with aspects of Wagner's "Siegfried".
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Sir George Trevelyan
TRER/46/63 · Item · 13 May 1898
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Roundhurst, Haslemere:- Will 'certainly' come to Wallington on the 23rd, or whichever day his parents are starting there. So his father may understand why he was 'unwilling to come', will say 'frankly that for a Wagnerian to miss the Götterdämmerung when he has been looking forward to it for half a year is a serious disappointment': it is 'Wagner's supreme opera', but also 'the culminating point of the tetralogy, which has never before been done in succession in England'. In addition, the Ring 'never has been, and may never be again, conducted and acted so splendidly'.

His father therefore must not mind Robert being disappointed, and 'wishing that George had been able to come instead', but he would 'rather miss the whole cycle of the Ring' than have his parents think he 'put[s his] pleasures' before theirs.
Letter from Sophie Weisse to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/8/62 · Item · 23 Aug 1911
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Hôtel Bellevue, Bad Nauheim, Germany. - Thinks there has been a problem with the dispatch of Julian's picture book: asks Bessie to let her know if it has not arrived. Is sending another copy to 'Durchläuchting's' [sic: Durchlauting, or Serene Highness: Eydua Scott Elliott, née Odescalchi] little daughter, Aydua Scott Elliott. Tells Bessie off for paying for the Trevelyans' stay at the Wheatsheaf at her invitation; Margaret Parratt has a bag with the money which must be returned, so Bessie must not talk of washing bills for 'that wretched Donald [Tovey]' who has not yet written to her. Nonsense that Donald's compositions and operas ["The Bride of Dionysus"] prevent him writing: she is 'smothered' under many tomes by letters of Wagner and Brahms, 'quite prolific if undistinguished composers', and if she does not receive regular news from Donald she will come home as it is 'no use spending a fortune here just to be cross and desolate'. A postscript asks what has happened about 'Mr Hilary [sic] Belloc': hopes the matter has not been neglected; also asks Bessie to tell Donald she never got the Northlands programmes he promised, which they must have.
Letter from Gordon Bottomley to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/21/62 · Item · 25 Feb 1914
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Veronica, Silverdale, nr Carnforth. - Thanks Bob for sending his "New Parsifal"; will get him to write his name in it when he comes north. Read it with much 'zest and enjoyment' as if he had never done so before; thinks it has all 'come quite fresh and delightful'. Sure it is 'first rate and... will last a long time'; eager to see what the reviewers say, as soon as Bob has a 'bundle of cuttings' he can spare'. The 'Chiswicks [Chiswick Press] have managed the cover very well'; the 'arrangement with Bickers' [printers and booksellers] sounds good, and will probably be 'more efficient' than Longmans or 'liitle [Charles Elkin?] Matthews'. Will remember all this for "Mrs Lear" [his forthcoming "King Lear's Wife"], but thinks he should try Heinemann first as Bob suggests. Thanks Bob for taking the trouble to see [Edward] Marsh and writing; will follow up this opening as soon as he can; unfortunately the typescript [of "King Lear's Wife"] is not yet ready, since he has had a 'few bed-days', and there is an 'Old-Man-of-the-Sea of a plumber here' who makes work 'impossible'. The house is ready to move into; they are going to Allithwaite on Friday, on to Well Knowe for a fortnight, then 'back here for ever. This is a 'damned place, full of old maids collecting for the provision of woollen comforters for deep sea fishermen'.; mentions the suggestion in the local directory that Silverdale is named after 'Soever', a 'hardy Norseman'. Promises Bob that 'Mrs Lear' will be his 'Lenten task', and to get the typescript to Marsh by Easter.

Had a letter from [John] Drinkwater three weeks ago, who said he had seen Bob, and also asked for the 'refusal' of 'Mrs Lear'; have therefore promised to send him a typescript too. Drinkwater sent his [play] "[Oliver] Cromwell....."; Bottomley at length replied he was 'on his side about King Oliver', but that Drinkwater should not 'write poetry like a partisan'. Ernest Newman was 'offensive and vulgar' about [Wagner's] "Parsifal"; loathed' him as Bob did. Wishes he could have seen the opera with Bob. As it has just gone out of copyright, has bought a cheap score; expected it to be 'good but vegetarian and flabby' so was glad to see it 'so much huger' than expected; thinks 'the Amfortas... more moving than anything else in Wagner'. Has got hold of a Bohn edition of the Grimm "Fairy Tales" 'just like' Bob's, and now he and his wife read them out loud in the evening. Very glad that Julian is better: 'suppressed influenza' seems to have been a great danger for children recently, and Lady A[lice] Egerton says her little niece almost died of it. Hopes Sir George is also better. Adds a postscript to say that the French musical review S. I. M. ["Société internationale de musique"] for 1 January has a 'good portrait' of R[alph] Vaughan Williams and a piece on "Les Post-Elgariens" by Marcel Boulestin.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Caroline Trevelyan
TRER/46/62 · Item · 26 Feb 1898
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Il Frullino, San Domenico di Fiesole, Florence:- Recent rainstorms have put off their planned 'expedition' to San Gigminano; does not think he will start back to England before 8th [March], but 'should be back soon after that'. Would 'like to stay in London for a few days before going to Welcombe', which he thinks might be in mid-March; does not mind where he sleeps and 'the night nursery would be very nice', but would like to 'sit in a room looking out onto the garden'. Hears they have been having 'severe snowstorms' which may have caused harm 'after the early Spring'.

Has just finished the first scene of his libretto [on Theseus and Ariadne], 'or rather Mrs Costelloe's': she 'seems very much pleased with it, and thinks it will sing well', but they will have to see 'what the musician [Emánuel Moór] thinks of it'. Is using 'almost all the metres in the world, and inventing some'.

Encloses 'a receipt for gnocchi' given to him by Mrs Costello which they have had a couple of times: 'it is very good indeed'. Has been 'seeing Mrs Ross, who used to know Papa'; she 'remembers him as a young swell about town, and he was her partner in her first dance'. She 'tells wonderful stories' about her mother Lady Duff Gordon and grandmother Mrs Austin; her niece Miss [Lina] Duff Gordon is coming on the San Gimignano expedition.

Is sorry his mother did not get tickets for [Wagner's] Ring: 'it was not a thing to be missed'. If he had heard about it sooner, he would 'have wired for a seat in one of the sets', but fears it is too late now, and he will 'have to go to the gallery'. Is glad his father is well. His parents must go to see Mrs Ross next time they are in Florence. Mrs Ross says the cook will probably understand 'how much flour to put into the water [for the gnocchi]'.
Letter from Caroline Trevelyan to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/11/5 · Item · 6 Mar 1914
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Very sorry that Julian is so unwell again; does not like the sound of 'an asthmatic tendency'; the time in London has been spoiled but the Shiffolds would not have been any better for him. Wishes Elizabeth could find a nurse, or that they could help her; suggests asking the doctor who might know someone. Would like to come up to London to see them, but cannot leave Sir George; he is recovering 'wonderfully', and is getting some work done each day, but still needs much looking after. Asks if Robert liked the M.G. ["Manchester Guardian"] review of his book ["The New Parsifal"]; G[eorge] says the "Times" is going to review it. She has been reading it a great deal; told Robert she did not quite understand it, and hopes he is not vexed; she understands the 'fun' but does not always grasp its deeper meaning, and would know more of the characters if she had seen the "Parsifal" opera [Wagner]. The 'new poetry magazine' ["New Numbers"?] arrived this morning; asks if Robert paid her subscription, and how much it is; laments her increased forgetfulness with age. Booa [Mary Prestwich] and Hearn are also 'so old now, but excellent as ever'; Grace has been twenty years with them and Pantlin thirty. Had a good visit from George, though did not think him cheerful.
Letter from E. M. Forster to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/ADD/47 · Item · 20 Sept 1942
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

West Hackhurst. - Hopes his wire reached her in good time; had been staying with the Kennets and only just got her letter. Monday the 28th would 'suit splendidly'; asks her to drop him a line to confirm nearer the time. Will of course meet her bus and take her back to it; she will have 'coffee on arrival, tea on departure, and alcohol between times - if acceptable, that is to say'.

He does 'dislike voices against music when there is no reason for it, but there was a reason here [further discussion of the BBC broadcast of his short story The Celestial Omnibus, see also TRER/ADD/45-46], and for the music being Wagner'. Believes the first chapter of A Passage to India is to be broadcast on the 28th, 'some unearthly hour of the night as usual'.

His mother looks forward to seeing Bessie.
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/7/43 · Item · 27-28 Mar 1918
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

2 St Margaret's Road, Edinburgh. - Is glad Trevelyan agrees with his idea about the mist effect in Act III [of "The Bride of Dionysus": see 7/42]. Is getting on well, and has produced 'four big sheets', or forty-three pages of the old score, since he sent the wire to Trevelyan; he began in the examination room, 'racing the Mus Bac candidate at paper-spoiling'. He is also happy with the rest of the finished material: it is not the case that for him revision is 'an endless process, changing with [his] point of view'. Believes that when the job is finished, they will both feel he has 'not been unreasonably long over it'; in any case, it is 'the largest musical design that has ever been carried out with a fastidious sense of musical form and dramatic fitness'. Art and politics will not be 'exclusively governed by cads and invalids for ever' so it will not be so old-fashioned 'when the next half-dozen revolutions in art have become classical reality'. Odd to think he was afraid the opera would have 'dried up' in two and a half years away from it. Has been as tough a job for him as the "Ring" was for Wagner.

Has been working on 'the strong-winged foam-wanderers' chorus and has given it a new end; Vaughan Williams had criticised it 'in his vague puzzle-headed way' but neither of them could then see what the matter was; Tovey is now much happier with it. Discusses other changes he has made, including the removal of the effect used to represent Theseus' disappearance and the echoes of it; the double bass pizzicato he had had was 'curious confirmation' of his theory that plagiarism 'consists of echoing what you don't know properly' and is 'the exact opposite of the effects of scholarship upon art'; it came from [Richard] Strauss who uses the technique in "The Salad & the Electrocution" ["Salome" and "Elektra"] but always properly connected to something beyond the orchestra. Has got rid of it, not because he does not like Strauss - will happily reuse it elsewhere - as he has something else. Gives musical notation in his discussion of the 'hope only thy death's pain' figure. Proof of 'the finality of the big sheets' in Raabe's copy. Notes that in a work of this size 'most of what people say a priori about one's development of style is bosh' - compares Wagner - and decries the pressure on young artists 'to strike out new paths' which prevents them from producing work larger than 'watch-pocket size'. Will now move on to the Nereids. A pencil postscript on the first page that Grettie has 'been overdoing it' and ordered to take a rest, but she will be able to come with Tovey. They go to Oxford on 5 April. There are also pen and pencil postscripts by Tovey noting further progress on the opera on the back of the envelope.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Julian Trevelyan
TRER/15/42 · Item · 15 June 1926
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Glad that Julian is having a good time at Hamburg; envies him 'the chance of learning German properly' and seeing Wagner 'performed properly'. The Viennese opera company recently performed the "Ring" in London; the singing was very good, but the 'Covent Garden scenery and stage-resources' were 'miserable... it was a national disgrace'. Can send a German libretto with English translation for the "Ring" or "Tristan and Isolde" if Julian wants. Dorothy [Archibald?] 'has measles quite badly' but is now recovering. He and Elizabeth are going to Welcombe for a few days next week, then to Oxford to visit [Robert] Bridges 'the Poet Laureate, a few leaves from whose wreath I hope to steal'. The Sangers and Goldie [Lowes Dickinson] visited at Whitsun; Goldie may return when Dorothy is well. Saw George Moore in London this week, who recommended that Julian read Bertrand Russell's last book "An Outline of Philosophy"; thought he had it but can't find it, and is writing to ask if he has lent it to Goldie. Moore also thought that Julian might 'find some of the books dull reading them alone', but it would be much more interesting to go to lectures and discuss the ideas with others. The Welcombe Mabuse [Gossaert] was sold last week at Christies, and fetched more than any other picture except 'a fine early Rubens portrait'. Charles was there, and got a Canaletto of Venice for uncle George for Hallington. Asks to be remembered to Professor [Albrecht?] Mendelssohn [Bartholdy?], who visited some years ago; hopes he will visit again one day.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Julian Trevelyan
TRER/15/36 · Item · 4 June 1925
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Has just returned from the Lake Hunt, 'stiff, but not crippled': describes some events of the three days of hunting, including being a hare on Sunday, when he 'enticed 3 hounds up Kirkfell (nearly 3000 feet)'; draws a map [on the last page] to illustrate his capture by hounds including Charles and young George. Was driven to catch his train by [Laurence John?] Cadbury 'who makes cocoa' in 'a care that looks as if it were made of silver'; the roads were 'full of Whitsuntide motors' but Cadbury 'drives very skilfully' and, passing the cars and charabancs where he could, sometimes went up to 80 miles an hour by the speedometer when the road was clear. Has almost recovered from the 'stiffness' caused by the Hunt. The Sangers and Dorothy Reece [later Dorothy Archibald] have been visiting; Mrs Sanger is still here, until Monday, when [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson is visiting. Elizabeth went up to London with Mr Sanger and Daphne to see Wagner's "Meistersinger", and returns tonight. The 'Exhibition has been demolished' after 'enormous' crowds in its last days, including 'the chairman of the I[ndependent] L[abour] P[arty: Clifford Allen], the ex-President of the Board of Works, the King, the Prince of Wales in Ivel cheese, and several distinguished literary personages.' Hopes Julian is enjoying bathing.
Letter from Sophie Weisse to Elizabeth Trevelyan
TRER/8/32 · Item · 9 Sept 1909
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Munich. - Has suffered a bad chill since coming to Germany, and needs to stay in bed for a couple of days to be fit when Donald [Tovey] arrives and to hear the Brahms. Has heard two of [Wagner's] Ring operas and Parsifal, and a performance of [Beethoven's?] Ninth Symphony which made her 'ache to hear Donald conducting it'. Is very touched by Bessie's news [of her pregnancy]; hopes that in time she will have 'a little band of children' growing up in her home, and tells her to look after herself. The baby whose mother she was so worried about in August is now a 'marvellous success'. Is looking forward to the second act of Donald's opera ["The Bride of Dionysus"], and hopes she may hear it several times. Has scarcely seen anything of Donald over the last eighteen months. The Trevelyans must come to Northlands next time he is working on the opera: will be 'a great thing to get it finished and out of the way'. Donald played the first act when Mr [Hugh?] Godley was visiting, and she was 'enormously struck' by it; it is dreadful that she is 'out of touch' with his work, as their tastes in music are 'so absolutely the same'. Is missing Brahms' "Requiem", and is miserable. Hopes that Donald practised.
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/7/28 · Item · 14 Jan 1911 [postmark]
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

C/o Herr Geheimratt Strecker, Kaiserstrasse 32, Mainz. - Thinks a letter of his has gone missing, so will repeat the contents. Trevelyan's criticism of his own work in Act V of "The Bride of Dionysus" is 'very strong': he himself had thought of some of it but would not have felt sure until Trevelyan put it so strongly. Doesn't feel that Trevelyan's new proposals quite remove 'the appendix-like effect of Dionysus'. If it is clear that Ariadne does destroy herself, the Dionysus finale will be 'a mere Gounod's-Faust-resurrection'. Asks if Dionysus could be got into the action of the play earlier, and sketches out a proposal for this, outlining advantages. Cannot face the pause Trevelyan suggests between Ariadne's disappearance and the finale: he sat through [Wagner's] "Lohengrin" the other day (an excellent performance except that Elsa was just like '[Henry Gabriel?]Pelissier in one of his feminine rôles') and noticed how 'every stoppage on the stage becomes increasingly annoying' though there are not many and they are theoretically very dramatic. Question of the visibility of Dionysus now re-opened.

Thinks he will get on well now. Has been struggling with the Theseus-Phaedra duet, which he hopes to finish tomorrow; for the last couple of months has 'been suffering from a most disgusting inability to tackle anything', a feeling he is used to, but it has been very bad this last year, and coincides with depression about music in general. Feels that it is 'about the worst period in musical history since the 17th century' though admits this might be affected by his own low spirits. Thinks he should be over the worst now, and hopes in the summer they will be able to get the last act done together. Doesn't see how he can get back before the Classical Concert on the 25th as he wants to stop at Cologne and especially Amsterdam on the way home. Begs Trevelyan to 'put in an occasional week-end at Northlands': he will not be able to get about next term, as he needs to practice. Needs to make Northlands his base, as there aren't any academic posts which would give him such good chances for work: English music has no official openings for anyone not 'a cross between Marie Corelli, [John Philip?] Sousa, and Bernard Shaw'. Something which has been 'out of order' with him over the last year is coming right again. Is more sure than ever that the opera will be a 'big thing' if they can 'pull it through'.

Has been looking at [Trevelyan's] "Sisyphus" again; feels it will make 'a splendid modern Zauberflöte' and will certainly take it on when 'let out of Hanwell [Asylum] for finishing Ariadne. Is going to play the prison scene to Herr Geheimrat [Strecker] tomorrow, and will tell Trevelyan how it goes.
Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/7/23 · Item · [Aug-Sept 1907?]
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Their letters have crossed, and Tovey's suggestion about Acts II and III [of "The Bride of Dionysus"] was independent of Trevelyan's. The time interval [in Act II] is impossible as it stands. Had almost forgotten that his idea for the final chorus had taken so definite a shape: apologises for giving Trevelyan unnecessary trouble. Explains that it will not work for the opera to end on a solo by Ariadne: it is very different from [Wagner's] Isolde's Liebestod. Ariadne has had 'the longest and most varied monologue in any opera': hopes this will be feasible without cuts, as it will be 'the largest design ever attempted in dramatic music', though Trevelyan must not tell anyone he says so, especially F. S. Kelly. Still feels that there is too strong a trace of his own 'essentially prosaic', analytical ideas in Dionysus's new speech. Would not be surprised if by the end of the composition process 90 percent of Trevelyan's original readings were restored.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Caroline Trevelyan
TRER/46/207 · Item · 9 Mar 1914
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

8 Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Glad to hear his father is 'getting on well' and that his mother is also well. Julian is now 'quite right again', and went to school for the first time this morning. This was 'quite a success', though 'unfortunately Miss Croft the mistress was unwell', and so although the headmistress came for a while 'there was no one to look after things most of the time, except Bessie and another parent'. Julian seems to have enjoyed it all the same, though he 'cried a little when Bessie was round at No. 14 for half an hour'. The weather is very bad, so they travelled in a taxi. Bessie is well. They 'dine at No. 14 tomorrow'.

Is glad his mother likes Parsifal [his new book, The New Parsifal; since she is 'not familiar with Wagner's opera', she might 'find some of the mythology rather obscure', but he does not think that matters. Cannot be dissatisfied with the book's reception so far; true, he has only had two reviews so far, in the Scotsman and Manchester Guardian, 'both stupid though not unfriendly', but Clutton-Brock is going to review it in the Times, and he will probably get 'a few other interesting reviews'. Has already sold 'a fair number, and a good many people seem to like it'. Is very glad his father was 'so pleased with it', will write to him soon.

George made a 'very good speech at the Tramp Dinner, after Haldane, who also spoke very well, and pleased everyone'. He has 'promised to come on a tramp some Sunday this Summer', and they will try to make him keep his promise.
Letter from Lord Pethick-Lawrence to Lady Pethick-Lawrence
Letter from Lord Pethick-Lawrence to Lady Pethick-Lawrence
PETH/6/198 · Item · 14 Aug. 1950
Part of Pethick-Lawrence Papers

Fourways, Gomshall, Surrey.—Has been reflecting on memories of their courtship. Is delighted that she is making such a good recovery.

—————

Transcript

Fourways, Gomshall, Surrey
Aug 14. 50

My dear.

I have just been listening to the beautiful & stirring music of Wagner. It has brought back to me old memories & the thoughts of how our love for one another was so closely intertwined with Tannhauser, the Ring and the Meistersinger.

I am so overjoyed tht you are making such a wonderful recovery. Soon after you come back to Fourways we shall be celebrating our 49th wedding day, & from then on begins our fiftieth year together. First will come your birthday but I dont think I knew about that fifty years ago. Nor did you know of the date of mine. But you went specially to the pillar box at Friday Street on Dec 27 to post me a letter and it arrived on my birthday morning!

Then we come to the fiftieth anniversaries of our May 12 & May 26 & how on May 27 you and I went together to Paddington to take “our” seat for you on the train to Weston.

Later I went with you to stay at Trewartha {1} & became one of your family. I came to Broadmoor and Littlehampton. We took Clements Inn and the Dutch House tht we rechristened the Mascot. We engaged Rapley who is still our faithful retainer.

Then on October 2 we had our simple ceremony at the Registry Office & the public function at Canning Town.

All these my darling we have to live over again.

So you can understand how glad your laddie is tht you & I will be hand-in-hand to live over again these great & stirring memories.

When we look around us & see so many marriages from which love has faded out it is a pearl above all price with which we have been blessed this love of our which has endured.

My darling
Your very very own
Boy

I shall post this tomorrow for you to get on Wednesday morning when I am due in Edinburgh.

—————

The abbreviation ‘tht’ for ‘that’ occurs a few times.

{1} Trewartha, Bristol Road, Weston-super-Mare, the home of Emmeline’s parents.
Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Caroline Trevelyan
TRER/46/17 · Item · 9 Nov 1892
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Trinity, Cambridge:- As he said [46/16] he is going to Oxford next Saturday, and will return to Cambridge early on Monday; does not think he will be able to stop in London, but will see her when she comes on the 21st [to stay with the Verralls]. Saw George last Saturday [at Harrow] and thought him 'flourishing'. Supposes she will be going to Harrow soon. Hears there has been 'a great attack on Welldon in the National Observer', which he has not yet read; expects it is 'probably very unfair, though [Welldon] has no doubt partly laid himself open to such attacks'. Bowen seems well.

Hopes that things are going their [ie the Liberal Party's] way everywhere: expects the Tories will 'talk a great deal about the Evicted Tenants' Commission, but that it will not much matter'. Has not heard from Charlie since he started North; hopes he has had a 'pleasant and instructive journey'. The elections in America seem to be going well, though Robert does 'not understand much about things American'. Asks if his father is well. Is glad that all are well at Welcombe; it is 'quite right that Snitterfield should become an asylum for the oppressed'. Has just been to a chamber concert with Crompton Ll[ewelyn] Davies. Is going to a Wagner concert next week; there are 'some quite first rate concerts here this term'.
Letter from Duncan Crookes Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan
TRER/8/147 · Item · 17 July 1907
Part of Papers of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and Elizabeth Trevelyan

Worplesdon Rectory, Guildford. - Don [Donald Tovey] has been 'on one of his very fugitive visits' and read Trevelyan's "Ariadne" ["The Bride of Dionysus"], which gave them so much pleasure that Tovey is writing to tell Trevelyan. Is sure that Trevelyan and Donald's joint work [on the opera] will be 'epochmaking in the history of English history and music'. Only has criticism of the 'most pedantic kind', which he will not bother to write; if the public can stand the Wagnerian legend for the sake of the music, they should really appreciate 'what is truly classical in the best sense'. Encourages Trevelyan to visit, as he promised after they had 'deposited [Henry?] Jackson at the Charing Cross Hotel after that miraculous & bewildering ride in the motor omnibus'. A postscript asks whether [Thomas Babington] Macauley did indeed call Versailles 'a huge heap of littleness'; is sure he did, following [Thomas] Gray's use of a phrase from [Alexander] Pope; invites Trevelyan to see 'how minute [he is] becoming or become'. Also asks Trevelyan whether he is aware that the Arthurian legend exists in Scotland, and that at Meigle in Perthshire 'they show you the tomb of Queen Wander' who was pulled apart by wild horses 'for nae gude that she did', and Wander is Guinevere [see Gray, '"Works" (1825) vol II p. 274].