Item 70 - Letter from Donald Tovey to R. C. Trevelyan

1 item

39, Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, 7. - Is glad that Trevelyan has seen someone at the B.B.C. about 'this disgraceful jiggery-pokery as to [Tovey's] concerts'. Wrote to [Adrian] Boult at once, assuming that he was not to blame; Trevelyan's letter enabled him to write again 'in still friendlier terms', saying that his concerto would be much easier than anything else Boult could do with [Pablo] Casals. The 'pretext of difficulty in rehearsing is only a damned lie' as any musician who knows Casals and Tovey's scoring would see, but 'illness covers all' and Tovey cannot suppose he would do any better in Boult's circumstances. Trevelyan will have heard from Edward Renton, whom Tovey is paying a hundred pounds towards 'his prospective adventures in Russia' for producing a copy of the full score of "The Bride of Dionysus", with both German and English text. Renton has been useful to Fritz Busch, and his Edinburgh University scholarships have now run out; Tovey will be grateful for any kindness Trevelyan can show him.