Item 198 - Letter from Donald Tovey to Elizabeth Trevelyan

1 item

39 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, 7. - Would be 'great fun' to have [Peter] Rybar in Edinburgh next winter 'if it could be managed financially'; thinks he 'would get what he needs'. Tovey could not be responsible for violin technique, but thinks that 'timely occasional visits to [Carl] Flesch', who played in Edinburgh yesterday 'most gloriously', ought to be enough. Tired out by the effort of writing another letter to the "Times" about Eugenie Schumann's protest (about the appearance of her father's last concerto), though at least there is now no 'spookwhenyou'rspookentology' [a reference to the involvement of a séance in the discovery of the concerto] to deal with. In a postscript, Tovey notes that his students are 'now numerous & really musical', and that things are in general better than in Johannes [Röntgen]'s time; thinks Rybar would benefit from the students as well as help them.

Tovey's letter about Eugenie Schumann referred to in this letter was published in the "Times", 24 Jan 1938, p. 18, under the title "Schumann's Last Concerto: Case for Production".